The Tale Of Three Birdies
by Colossal Titan's Hoe
Summary: When in the School, Fang finds out he has a twin sister named Jab. She is mated to an Eraser named Cam. When Cam dies, she remates with a flock member. AE. FangxMax IggyxJab M for future Lemons. Some Justin Bieber drabble : For fun and conflict. No flame
1. Too Much In One Day

**Okay, so, I have a thing for characters getting twins. It builds tension and tension leads to drama and drama can be solved, which is the resolution. See? Language Art or Reading or whatever. Anyway, this is about Fang getting a twin sister. She is a bird kid, too, but Jeb left her behind and Fang and her have never met. Her name is Jab. She looks a lot like Fang, except she is short. She's about 5" on the dot. She is basically Fangs exact opposite, though. She's pretty cheerful and she gets extra privlages for good behavior, like she has an iPod and has limited computer access. They meet while at the School when they fail to rescue Angel. So, ON WITH THIS FANGALICOUS STORY!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

Too Much In One Day

**Fang POV**

I sat back in my dog crate. I thought that as long as we're here with no apparent escape, we might as well get comfy.

I almost laughed out loud. Yeah, right. get comfy in the School, where you're constantly pricked by needles. Tested for stanima, speed, strength, endurance. Hardly fed. Just like home.

The door opened and in walked a girl. She wasn't a whitecoat. She was about 14, though she was short. Her hair was raven black and only fell to her shoulders in little ringlets. It had little streaks of pink in it. She had side bangs that covered one eye. Her eyes were brown, the same color as mine. She had wings. They were the same raven black as mine. Hers were smaller, though. She looked in each crate, like she would see someone she recognised. She stopped at mine and dropped to her knees in front of my crate.

"Fang?" she asked.

"Yes. Do I know you?" I asked.

"No. We've never met. But I know you," she said softly.

"How do you know me?" I asked.

"We're, well, twins," she said. I stared at her. "Fine, don't believe me, then." She stood up. "Tell one of the whitecoats or an Eraser when you want to see me."

"Wait," I said. "Do you a birth mark on your neck in the shape of a shark tooth?"

"Why, yes I do," she said, sitting back down. She tilted her head all the way over to reveal her neck. There was a little brown mole identicle to mine.

"Wow. We really are twins," I said in amazement.

"The name's Jab," she said. She looked at the rest of the flock. She pointed at Max. "Maximum Ride, right? Like Sally Ride?" Max nodded. Jab pointed to Angel. "Angel." She nodded. "Where's Gazzy?" she asked.

"Got away," Max said.

"Oh." She pointed to Nudge. "Nudge." Nudge nodded. "I'm guessing Iggy got away,too."

"Yup," Angel said.

"Hey, do they still obsess over explosives?" Jab asked.

"Yup," Nudge said. "They ended up blowing up our old shack. We didn't live in it, but we met in it. But it got over run by Erasers so they blew it up with a couple inside."

"I wonder why they separated us," I mused.

"I don't know, Fang. I don't know," she said. She put her head down to think. "Maybe together we're some kind of powerful force."

"Then why would they let you see me now?" I asked.

"I don't know. Doesn't hurt to try. I hope," she said. She unhatched my crate. I stepped out and unfolded my wings. She was working on opening everyone else's crates. We all streched our wings. She held her hand up, palm toward me. I pressed my hand to hers there was a staticy feeling. We pulled apart to see a blue spiderweb of lightning bolts weaving out between them.

"Wow," I said in amazement. I was about to touch it with my otherhand, but Max hit it away.

"Don't touch it, stupid! You could kill yourself," she said.

"Well, I couldn't resist," I said. "That stuff is cool."

"If we touch it, it doesn't electricute us. It just kind of moved with our hands," Jab said, holding up her other hand. She was holding the web like cloth. It stretched out to where her hand was. She let go. "Let's try to do two hands," she said, holding up her other hand I pressed my hand to it and pulled back. The web was there, just like the first one.

"That's really cool," Nudge said. We were all gaping at the electronic spider webs.

"Now how do we stop these?" I said.

"Try closing your palms," Jab said. I shrugged and closed my palms at the same time she did. The webs disappeared. "Okay, _that_ was beyond awesome."

"Agreed," Max said.

"I triple that motion," Nudge said.

"Max, how do you say triple, but for 4?" Angel asked.

"Quadruple," Max relied.

"Then I quadruple the motion," Angel said. Jab smiled.

"You're cute, Angel," she said.

"Thank you," Angel said.

"Hey, do you guys have mates?" she asked.

"Mates?" I asked.

"Guess not," she said. "A mate is an experiment's companion, a soul mate, so to say."

"Oh, like in mating season and stuff?" Nudge asked.

"Exactly, only we mate at random times. Like, you could be friends one second and then fall in love with each other the next." That rang a very vivid bell. That's how it was with Max right now. I was just somehow in love with her. But I would never admit that.

"I have a mate. But he's not exactly a bird kid," she said. She whistlered. "Cam," she called. I guy came in and I automatically recognised him as an Eraser. I got on the defense, ready to beat him down if he tried touching any of my girls.

"Hey, babe," the Eraser said, kissing Jab on the cheek. He was young, probably a couple years. He turned toward the flock. "I'm guessing this is ever famous flock." Jab nodded.

"Yup. This is Fang, no duh," she said pointing to me. "This is Max." She pointed to Max. "Then Angel." She pointed to Angel. "And Nudge." Her finger landed on Nudge and then dropped to her side. "They don't know where Iggy and Gazzy are, though. They got away."

"Well, that's good," Cam said.

"Wait, you _don't _want to kill the flock?" Max asked.

"No, since my mate is kind of a flock member, too," he said. Jab climbed into his lap and started playing with his fingers like a little kid.

"Did you need me, Jab?" Cam asked.

"They didn't know what a mate was. I was just demonstrating," she said. Now that I was paying attention, I saw the clear look of love and admiration on his face. He would clearly never hurt Jab.

"When was the last time you turned?" I asked.

"A year ago. That's when I mated with Jab," he said.

"How old were you then?" I asked.

"About 2 years old. I've seemed to age normally since then. I guess if you don't morphe for a long time, you age like a human."

"That's interesting," Max said.

"Very," I agreed.

"It might just be the way of staying with Jab for a while longer," he said sadly, wrapping his arms around Jab's waist.

"Well, you're not going anywhere yet," she said. The determination in her voice was a sure sign of how much they loved each other.

"I hear whitecoats. You guys better get back in your cages," Cam said. We nodded and climbed back in. Jab sat in front of my crate.

"We'll find a way out, Fang. Don't worry," she whispered.

"I believe you," I said, smiling. She smiled back. I put my hand on the bars of the crate. Jab put her hand over mine. A blue glow iluminated between our hands.

A few whitecoats and Erasers, including Ari, came in.

"Hey, dummies," he said to us. I snarled at him, but he didn't notice. "Time for practice." They loaded us on some tables and pushed us through the halls. Jab and Cam followed. We went through a door and outside. I expected fresh air, but the outside was tainted with the smell of cleaning supplies. Who cleans out doors with bleach?

"I've got your backs," Jab said. "And you'll learn why they call me Jab." Jeb **(Jeb, not Jab. No typo)** stepped out onto the field.

"Okay, so this is a fight to the death, basically," he said and walked to the side. Jab and Cam unlocked our crates. We stepped out with much difficulty. A bell rang and Erasers raced toward us, snouts and claws ready. Jab crouched and sprung for the nearest one. She jumped high enough to wrap her legs around his neck. Then she did something that I didn't really expect from her. She grabbed the Eraser's head and thrust it around. There was a gross crack and then the Eraser fell to the ground dead, its head bent at a weird angle.

"And _that _is why they call me Jab," she said proudly. I mimicked her actions, jumping up, using my wings to get higher, and then wrapping my legs around an Eraser's neck. I put a lot of force into twisting his head around. His neck cracked and he fell to the ground like a rag doll. I stared at the body.

"I did it," I said. Then I heard bird sounds up ahead. Not just any birds, eagles. The eagles from the cave. I looked up to see a bunch of winged creatures up over head. 2 were oddly shaped, and I knew those were Iggy and Gazzy. Yes! A rescue party. The birds swooped down and stared to tear the Erasers up. I ran and jumped, getting some air in my wings. I hovered, looking for everyone in the havoc. I saw Angel had already gone up. Max was near Ari, who was being chased by an eagle, but was still trying to grab Max.

"Jump Max!" I yelled to her. She did as told and jumped up, unfurling her wings. She was now out of reach. I looked around for Nudge, Cam, and Jab. Nudge was just comming out from the havoc.

Just then I heard a bloodcurtling scream. It sounded like Jab. I looked in the direction of it to see Jab coming through the flying dust and birds, pulling Cam up with her. But an eagle had him by the abdomen. I went to help her get him. Not even both of us togetheer could get it off of him. I struggled with Jab until her hands became too sweaty. His hands slipped out of hers and he fell. 2 eagles decided to rip him limb from limb, literally. Jab was still, just flapping her wings to hover. She stared as the birds ripped her mate to peices. Silent tears streamed down her face.

"No," she whispered. "No, that didn't just happen." I took her in my arms. She was shaking and I knew she wouldn't have been able to fly very far. So I carried her for a while. Iggy asked what happened and I told him to wait until when she was asleep. He nodded.

"Fang, I know that Max is your mate," Jab whispered so low that not even Iggy couldn't have heard it.

"No she's not," I whispered back just as low.

"Fang, I'm like Angel. I read minds," she said.

"Shoot," I whispered. "What are Max's thoughts?"

"I'm not telling you her thoughts just like I won't tell her your thoughts. You'll settle in with your mating in a while," she said.

"Whatever," I said. A couple minutes later, her breath evened. She was asleep.

"Guys, can we land here? Jab's asleep," I said. Max nodded. We dipped down and landed on the soft dessert sand.

"Now, first, who is she?" Iggy asked. Gazzy sat down to listen, too.

"She's my twin sister, Jab," I said.

"Wow, now that I look at her, she does look a lot like you," the Gasman said.

"Well I wouldn't know," Iggy complained.

"Oh, shut up and listen," I said. "There are these things called mates. I think that all experiments can have mates. Well, Jab's was an Eraser. He was nice, though, like Jab was his reason to be good. She probably was. Well, she just witnessed him get torn to pieces quite literally by eagles."

"Oh," Gazzy said looking down. "Our bad."

"No, it was no one's fault. An eagle just decided he wanted a hot dog," I said, laughing wryly. "I wish I could help her, but I can't ."

"We can all help her. She's family," Iggy said. The Gasman nodded. "Where is she?"

"Right here," I said, leading him over to where I had laid Jab on my windbreaker. He sat down at her side. He shook her a little bit.

"Huh?" she slured. "Are my blueberry pancakes ready?" I laughed at her.

"No, this is Iggy," Iggy said. She opened her eyes all the way. Then they went wide.

"Nice to finally meet you, Iggy," she said, sitting up. "You too, Gazzy. Wait, does Gazzy still have-"

"Gastrointestonal problems? Yes," Iggy said.

"Thought so. Yeah, could you sleep over there, Gazzy?" she asked. "No offense."

"None taken," the Gasman said. "They don't call me the Gasman for nothing."

"I know that," she said. She looked at me. "Um, Fang, Iggy, could I maybe talk to you two for a second?" We nodded. Iggy put a hand on her back so that he could follow. She walked a couple yards over. "Iggy, I can see your thoughts. I know what you're feeling," she said to Iggy.

"Does it mean we're... mated?" he asked.

"Yes, because, frankly, I have the exact same thoughts as you. We're mates." She smiled evilly. "I can think of two other people who are mated," she said. I glared at her. "_But_ I can't tell you guys."

"Why not?" Iggy asked.

"Because it's their buissness, and they'll tell people when they feel like it," she said.

"It's probably Max and Fang," Iggy guessed.

"My lips are ceiled," she said, looking at me. "Now come on before Gazzy starts to eavesdrop." Iggy hooked his finger through Jab's belt loop and we made ourway back to the others.

"What's up?" Max asked. Jab whispered something in her ear. "No way!" Max squealed.

"It's true," Jab said. Max smiled.

"Congratulations to you! Cangratulaions to you! Cangratulations to Ig and Jab! Congratulations to you!" Max sung.

"What?" Nudge and Angel asked.

"They're mated!" Max exploded.

"Congrats to the happy couple," Nudge said.

"Nudge, honey, you make us sound like we just got engaged," Jab said.

"You might as well have," she said.

"We're only 14, Nudge! I can't even get a tattoo without parental permition," Jab said, laughing.

"Yeah, I think I'ma go to bed," I said. I held out my fist.

"Stack your fist on top of the others," Max explained to Jab. "Then tap other's fists." Jab nodded.

"Night," I said, laying down.

"Night," Iggy said, laying next to Jab and wrapping his arms around her, hugging her to his chest.

"Goodnight," Nudge yawned.

"Don't let the sand bugs bite," Angel said.

"Night, flock," Max said. I saw Jab take an iPod out of her jacket and put something on. She put one in her ear and the other in Iggy's ear. Max hugged Angel close. Nudge pressed her back to Max's. Gazzy let one rip before going to bed.

"That's gross, Gasman," I said. He laughed and put his head on his balled up windbreaker. I curled up and fell deep to sleep. If I had a dream, I didn't remember.

**So? What'd you think. I don't know if there is such thing as mates, 'cause I've only ever read the first book, but I made it up. I'm sad I had to kill Cam, but I didn't want an Eraser travelling with the flock. But I like Iggy, so I made her remate with him. I think they're cute together. Okay, so questions:**

**1) Should I have Max and Fang figure out they are mated or should Jab tell them?**

**2) Should the Voice still be there?**

**3) Who should tell the flock their parental history and about the Institute, Angel or Jab?**

**4) Should there be an IggyxJab Lemon? FangxMax?**

**Please help! I need help with this one since I only read the first book. Please and Thank you. Love you guys!**

**Love,  
Jabrielle (Jab's first name)**


	2. Sight For Sore Eyes

**Hey freaks! How the hell are ya? Well, I'm great! Besides having to watch my little brother. Devil child. Anyways, here's chapter 2 of The Tale Of Three Birdies. Hope you like it! This one is mostly about Jab and Iggy. Guess what. Jab can also heal! That will play a big part in this chapter. So, ON WITH THE FREAKS!  
Disclaimer: I would have never came up with bird kids, so, therefore, I am not James Patterson.**

Sight For Sore Eyes

**Jab's POV**

I woke up the next morning with someone's arms around me, exactly as they had been when I fell asleep. I looked up at Iggy to see him awake and smiling.

"Good morning," I said, kissing his jaw.

"Morning, Jab," he said. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a baby, thank you." I sat up, bringing him with me. "And you?"

"Good, though I didn't have a dream." He wrapped his arms around me.

"Yeah, I see how that can be hard when you don't know what most stuff looks like," I said, remembering that he was blind. Then I got an idea. "I think I know how to get your sight back." He brightened.

"How?" he asked.

"I heal," I said. "I can heal diseases. So why can't I cure blindness?"

"Try it," he said, closing his eyes.

"I want to tell everyone else first," I said. Max started to stir, and soon she was fully awake.

"Hey, Max," I said.

"Morning, Jab, Iggy," she said.

"So, Max, I have something to tell you," I said. She looked at me to go on. "I can heal. I was thinking that I could maybe heal Iggy. I just wanted to wait till the flock wakes up before trying."

"Well, let's wake them up, then," she said. We shook everyone awake. They groaned.

"What?" Fang whined when I shook him.

"I think I can heal Iggy!" I squealed. He shot up.

"How?" he asked.

"I can heal. If I can heal disease, why not blindness?" He nodded. Once everyone was up, they got in a circle around Iggy and me.

"So, all you have to do is touch someone to heal them?" Gazzy asked. I nodded.

"Ready, Iggy?" I asked. He nodded and closed his eyes. I touched his eyelids and closed my eyes, feeling the wonderful feeling of healing stream through me. Then, almost as soon as it started, it was over. I opened my eyes and took my hand away from Iggy's face.

"Open your eyes, Iggy," I said. He did and looked at me. Then he gasped.

"I can... I can see," he said in amazement. I smiled and hugged him. He hugged me back. Everyone dog-piled us.

"You guys are flippin' heavy!" I said. "Fang, get your fat a- I mean, butt off of me!" I had to watch my language around Angel and Gazzy. I suppose Nudge is old enough to cuss.

"What's the magic word?" he asked.

"Kill!" I yelled. He laughed and got up.

"This is so cool!" Iggy said. I laughed.

"What do you want to do, then?" I asked.

"Go to town," he said.

"Guys, I have something to tell you," Angel said. I knew what she was going to tell them. About the Institute. About their parents.

"Actually, we both do," I said, putting my arm around her shoulders. She smiled thankfully at me.

"At the School, I picked up some... things from the minds of whitecoats," Angel started.

"What kinds of things?" Max asked.

"Like, stuff about our parents. Where we come from," she said. "We're not test-tube babies."

"What? And you've been sitting on this all this time?" Iggy asked, mad. I put a hand on his arm.

"Calm down, Iggy," I said. He relaxed some.

"Please continue, Angel," Max said.

"Well, I know that Iggy's parents think he's dead. So does Nudge's. Gazzy and my parents know we're alive. They gave us up willingly. I think it was for money," she went on. Gazzy exploded.

"What? They just gave us up to the devils in lab coats? I hate 'em," he said.

"I know you do, Gazzy. But they did what they did and we can't undo it," Angel said inellegently.

"Moving on, mine and Fang's mom was a teenager when she had us. She thinks we're dead, though," I said.

"Great. She's probably a drug addict," Fang grumbled.

"At least she took the time to actually have us," I said.

"She has a point," Max said. "She could have had an abortion."

"Okay, I get your point. Anything about Max?" he asked, switching the subject. I shook my head.

"I didn't get anything about you, Max. I do know that your mom's initials are V. G. Does that help any?" I said. Max shook her head no.

"Thanks for trying," she said. "This info's good news, I guess." She hugged me and Angel. Then she turned back to the flock. "We have to get moving. The School will have Erasers after us, so we have to move." We nodded and in matter of minutes, we were soaring high above the desert.

"Town's west of here," I yelled to Max at the center of the group. She nodded. Fang was next to her I was on his other side and Iggy was next to me. Angel flew on Max's other side. Gazzy was next to her and Nudge was next to him. I was deliberating in my head on how I could get Max and Fang to accept their mating. I wasn't telling them because that's just not how I am. I am a matchmaker, but I don't just tell them that they belong together. I was just going to slowly nudge them together. But how? I guess it'll all play out with time.

"Hey, Jab, what's up?" Iggy asked me, breaking me out of my trance.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?" I asked.

"You seem kind of out of it," he said, shrugging. "Like you were thinking deeply about something."

"Just something I need to work out on my own," I said. "Town should be about a mile from here. We'll be there in a couple minutes." When we came to town, we dove down, careful to not be seen.

"Ooo, I still have my credit card from the School!" I squealed, feeling the plastic card in my jacket pocket. They stared at me.

"You have a _credit card_?" Max asked. I nodded.

"Cam took me out every once and while," I said and felt a wave of sorrow as I said his name. I missed him like crazy. "He got it for me so that I could buy whatever I wanted."

"Jeeze, next you're gonna tell us you have a Lexus or something," Iggy said.

"Whatever. Let's just go. I'm hungry," I said. Right on cue, my stomach growled. "What do you want?"

"McDonald's," Gazzy said.

"TGI Fridays," Nudge said.

"I change my vote," Gazzy said. "TGI Fridays."

"I agree," Max said.

"Bring on the ribs," Iggy saaid.

"To TGI Fridays," Fang said.

"Let's go," I said, putting my iPod on.

"Who got you that anyway?" Iggy asked as I put a bud in his ear.

"Jeb. I only kept it because it's so cool," I said.

"Understood," he said.

"Oh, I forgot. There's also this place in New York called the Institute that is associated with the School. I don't know what they do there, but I know that's where they keep files of our parents and stuff," I said.

"Oh yeah. I remember hearing that, too. But I forgot, due to Iggy's outburst," Angel said, glaring at Iggy.

"My bad," he said.

"Yeah," she said.

"So, we're going to New York? Which one, the city or state?" Max asked.

"Beats me. But my best guess is the city. There are buildings crowded everywhere. It would blend in better," I said.

"Good point," Max said. We were walking down the sidewalk. It was then that I noticed that our clothes were a mess.

"Wait, we can't go to a resteraunt like this," I said, gesturing toward our beaten and battered clothes.

"Yay! Shopping spree!" Nudge squealed, jumping up and down. I put a finger on her head to stop her jumping.

"Calm down. We aren't going anywhere if you're constantly going to scream like a crazy fan girl," I said. She nodded and grinned.

"Let's go to Hot Topic. I saw it on the Internet once and loved their clothes." I nodded. We went to the mall and went into Hot Topic.

"Just bring me what you want," I said. Everyone nodded and spread out into the store. I went to the petite section. I love the shirts here. I found one that said "Team Vampire" in red glitter. Then another that said "Peace and Love" and had colorrful peace signs all over it. Then I got some jeans that had a big denum patch in the shape of a heart on the left back pocket. Then I saw this one pink shirt I had to get. It said "When Pigs Fly" and had a pig on an airplane on it. I found some jean shorts for the hot weather. Then I saw it. I had to get it. It was a mini skirt, plaid and blue. It was hot, to say the least. I loved it. I grabbed it off the rack and grabbed a white high cut spaghetti strap shirt to go with it. I ran off to find Nudge and Max. They were in the juniors' section.

"Guys, come on," I said, grabbing their hands and running back to the skirts. "You both _have_ to get one of these with me," I pleaded. "Pwease?" I put on my puppy dog look that got everyone.

"Fine," Max said. Nudge was alredy scanning the rack for her size. She pulled out a pink one. Max went through them and got out a purple one. I handed them 2 shirts identical to mine that looked their sizes.

"We're wearing them when we get to New York," I said. "Make a statement, you know?"

"This is going to be awesome!" Nudge said. "I bet we'll each get hit on at least once. But probably more."

"What did you guys get so far?" I asked. Max held hers out. One said "Jacob Black, I want to La Push You Off A Cliff". I laughed. The next said "Green Is Sexy". The last said "Happiness is Too Expensive". She also had a couple pairs of jeans and a cute blue dress. "Nice," I said. "Now you, Nudge." She held hers out. There was a white hoody with a Cullen crest in it, a pink t shirt that said "The Script" on it, and a t-shirt that said Justin Bieber on it with him holding up a boom box. She had some jeans and a pink mini dress. "Awesome. Are you guys done, 'cause I'm sure not," I asked. They shook their heads no and went back to searching. I did the same. I found a couple more shirts, some more jeans and shorts, and a couple dresses. I got light fabric, since we would have to carry this stuff while we fly. I finnished about the same time Nudge and Max did. We went to get the boys and Angel. Angel was looking at a rack of dresses. She had a stack in her hands.

"Hey, Angel. You almost finished?" I asked. She nodded, pulling out a tan dress.

"Done," she said. We found Gazzy and then Iggy and then Fang.

"We good?" I asked. They nodded. I walked up to the checkout counder, everyone in tow, and the clerk's eyes got wide.

"You do realize this is going to cost a lot of money, right?" he said.

"I've got it covered," I said, holding up my credit card.

"Alright then." He started ringing up our things and putting them in bags. I gave him the card and he swiped it. I signed the bill and we got our stuff. The stuff wasn't all that heavy. We all went to the bathrooms and changed. I changed into a short blue sweater dress that hung off one shoulder. I realized how bad my shoes looked. So did everyone else's, compared to their new clothes. We went to Payless and got shoes. I got some white shell tip Adidas, some cute black flats that had a big metal studded crown on them, and some black wedge heels. I put the heels on. It would at least make me look older. We would need somewhere to put this stuff, so I bought us each a carry on bag. We were able to stuff all our clothes and shoes into them. I quietly prayed my thanks to Cam if he was listening. We made it to TGI Fridays and then realized that we couldn't go in there with bulging carry on bags.

"We need hotel rooms," I said. They nodded. We were staying in the Holiday Inn. Ironic that I had "Holidae In" by Chingy on my iPod. I got a suite with one bathroom and 3 bedrooms. I shared a room with Iggy, Max with Fang-part one of my plan to get them together-, and then Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy were sharing a room. We placed our stuff in our rooms. I had picked up a brush for everyone to share at the mall. I tugged it through my messed up curls, flinching when it hit knots. Once I was satisfied with my hair, I left the bathroom and waited for the others to finish freshening up. I knew we all looked a mess, so it didn't surprise me when it took 15 minutes for all of them to come out.

"Everyone ready?" I asked, handing my credit card to Iggy. They nodded. We left out and, unsurprising, caught some eyes. Bird kids were good looking, not as beautiful as Erasers, but still out of the average looks. We were head turners to say the least. When Iggy caught a guy staring at my butt, he practically glued me to his side. I think I should have left him blind.

"You don't have to prove that I'm yours," I said, leaning my head on his upper arm. "What they think doesn't-" I cut off as a bunch of very inapropriate thoughts slamed into me.

_Hello, sexy._

_Man, if I could just get her away from pretty boy... _There was a flash of very disturbing images of me.

_I bet she's a freak._

_Look at that fine little mama._

_If she was just a few years older, I'd so hit that._

_Bet I can do better than blonie._

There were dozens more, but I'd rather not evalute on them. I covered my ears, trying to block out the gross thoughts and images. "Never mind. Show them who I belond to," I said to Iggy. He nodded and squished me closer to him, if that's even possible. The thoughts were just as gross as before. "God, they're giving me a flippin' headache."

"Me, too," Angel said. She was pressing her hands to her ears, but, of course it didn't work to keep out the very loud thoughts.

"I swear if they don't stop being so loud, I'm killing 'em," I said. "Fang'll help me electricute them."

"Um, how are you and Fang going to electricute them?" Iggy asked.

"Show you later." I had forgot that we hadn't showed Iggy and Gazzy our little trick. Just then a bullet wooshed past my head. I screamed. "Erasers!"

"God, can't we ever just have a freaking break," Max groaned as we started running back toward the Inn. We took the stairs, knowing the elevator would be way too slow. We ran into our room and grabbed our bags.

"We have to fly. They'll be waiting downstairs," Max said. We nodded and cut slits in our clothes for our wings.

"We should keep this so that we can cut slits in our other clothes," I said, putting the knife in my bag. "And maybe fend off some Erasers."

"Okay, let's fly," Max said, unfolding her wings and jumping out the window. I watched as her wings filled with air. She went down, they up, totally unseen. Fang jumped after her, then me, then Iggy, then Nudge, then Gazzy, then finally Angel.

"Guess we're going to New York early, huh?" Iggy said.

"Looks like it," I said. "Though we'll have to stop for food. Soon," I said. My stomach growled. "Thank God that there's another town a couple dozen miles from here."

"Good. We can land there. We'll eat, sleep, and then take off for New York," Max said. We nodded. It was about a half hour ride to San Juan, New Mexico. I was sleepy and hungery by the time we got there. I was surprised I didn't drop straight out of the sky. We landed out of sight and walked into town. I had never been any farther from the School than Arizona, but I was taught geometry at age 13. I knew where everything was. We could be in Alaska and I could lead us right to Anchorage from Wainwright. **(If you don't know, Wainwright is in nothern Alaska. Anchorage is in southern Alaska.)** I, however, didn't know where anything was in San Juan.

"Um, excuse me, sir," I said to a man on the sidewalk. He turned to me. "Is there a TGI Fridays here?" Nudge grinned at the fact that we were still going there.

"Yo no hablo Inglés (I don't speak English)," he said. I nodded.

"¿Hay alguna TGI Fridays por aquí (Is there any TGI Fridays around here)?" I asked in Spanish. He nodded an gave us the directions. "Gracias." He walked away.

"They taught you to speak Spanish?" Fang asked as we walked in the direction the man had told us.

"And German, Russian, various African languages, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Greek-"

"Okay, we get it. They taught you a lot of languages," Fang said. "Wonder why."

"So I could talk to others when I _save the world_," I said. "At least that's what Jeb told me. But who could really trust him?"

"He told me the same thing," Max said. "He wants me to save the world. He probably has the same vision for all of us."

"Probably," Fang said.

"So we'll be like X-Men or something? Ooo, I wanna be Wolverine," Nudge said. I laughed at her.

"Nudge, we are not saving the world. That's for grown ups," Max said. Nudge slouched.

"Dang. I wanted some claws growning out of my hands," she said sadly. We came to a stop at the TGI Fridays. I knew we would be too tired to go find a place to stay, so we went around to the back of the building, flapped a couple times to get to the roof, and hid them there. Who would look up there?

"God, am I ever hungry," Nudge said. We walked in, attracting attention. I walked up to the podium where a woman stood.

"Do you all need something? A phone?" she asked. "Are you lost?"

"No, no, no. We're here to eat," I said. Iggy held up the credit card.

"Oh," she said, smiling a bit. "How many?"

"Seven, please," I said.

"Right this way." She started to get menus. "How many kids menus?"

"Gaz, Angel, do you want the kids' menus?" I asked them. They nodded.

"Two," I said.

"Okay then." She walked to a large table with eight seats. "Here you are. Your server will be right with you." She walked away. We took our seats, Max at the head, me and Fang next to her. Iggy was next to me, Nudge next to him. Angel was on Fangs other side, Gazzy next to her. We started looking through the menus.

"Drinks first guys," I said. A waiter came up to our table.

"Hello, my name's Michael and I'll be your server today. Can I get you all something to drink?"

"I'll have a strawberry lemonade slush, please," I said.

"Same," Iggy said.

"Mango peach lemonade slush," Fang said.

"Blue rasberry slush," Angel and Gazzy said at the same time.

"Red Bull passion slush," Max said.

"Same," Nudge said.

"Nudge, you are not getting Red Bull. You're already hyper enough," I said. She slumped in her chair.

"Then I'll have the Friday's homemade fresh lemonade," she said.

"Got ya. Are you waiting on an adult?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nope," I said, popping the P.

"Okay, then," he said, walking away.

"I think I want the sizzling chicken and cheese," Iggy said.

"That's really good. I've had it before. I'm getting the parmesan crusted chicken," I said. Iggy nodded.

"I'm having 2 orders of the kids ribs," Gazzy said.

"Or you could just get what I'm getting, the baby back ribs from the grown ups' menu," Nudge said. "It'd be the same thing and it would save Jab some money."

"True. Okay, I'm getting that."

"Chicken tenders. Two orders of them," Angel said. I looked at her in concern.

"Honey, you should eat more. They didn't feed you much at the School and you were there for a while," I said.

"Jab's right. You need to eat," Max said.

"Hmm, then how about I get something off the grown ups' menu?" she asked. I nodded and handed her the menu. She slowly sounded stuff out.

"Ooo, I want the Jack Daniel's chicken with fries and a garden salad," she said. I nodded.

"I'll get the grilled shrimp scampi & salmon," Max said.

"I'm getting the 10 oz. Sirloin & Shrimp Scampi," Fang said.

"So, we're all situated?" I asked. They nodded. "Okay then." The waiter came back with our drinks.

"Does anyone know what they want?" he asked.

"We're ready to order," I said. "I want the parmesan crusted chicken."

"I'll have the sizzling chicken and cheese," Iggy ordered.

"Baby back ribs, full rack," Nudge said.

"Same," said Gazzy.

"I'll have the Jack Daniel's chicken," Angel said.

"Your two sides?" Michael asked like she was an adult.

"Fries and a garden salad, please," she said sweetly.

"I'll get the 10 oz. sirloin & grilled shrimp," Fang said. "Baked potato and cesar salad."

"I'm getting the grilled shrimp scampi and salmon," Max said.

"Two sides?"

"Cesar salad and string beans," she said.

"Your food will be out in about 15 or 20 minutes. Any appatizers while you wait?"

"You guys in the mood for cheese sticks?" I asked. They nodded. "2 orders of mozzarella sticks, please."

"Right away, ma'am," he said, going back into the kitchen.

"Ugh. I am so hungry," Nudge said, taking a drink of her lemonade.

"Ditto," I said, leaning my head against Iggy's shoulder. He started to stroke my hair.

"This is our first time eating big like this, in a resteraunt and all," Gazzy said, lookingaround at the old stuff they had on the walls. There was stuff like an old bike, an Elvis casette, and a black and white picture of a blimp. "This place is cool."

"Sure is. I remember the first time I came to TGI Fridays. It was when I first mated with Cam. He took me out on the town and we ate here for lunch. The waiter looked at me crazy when I told him my order."

"What'd you get?" Gazzy asked.

"2 racks of Jack Daniel's ribs and a large cesar salad," I said.

"Of course he would look at you weird. That's a lot of food for a seemingly normal 13 year old to eat," Fang said.

"No, duh, Captain Obvious," I said. The waiter came back with our mozzarella sticks.

"Thanks," I said. I split them between us seven. There were 3 left over. "What are we doing with these 3?"

"You're paying, so you have them," Angel said.

"Thank you, Angel," I said. We finished those pretty quickly, with absolutly no effect on my hunger. "How long has it been since we first ordered?"

"'Bout 12 minutes," Max said. I nodded.

"Can you show me whatever it is you and Fang do with electricity now? Like, near the bathroom?" Iggy asked. I looked at Fang and he nodded. We got up and went into the hallway where the bathrooms were. Me and Fang pressed out hands together and pulled back, the webs weaving between them. Iggy's eyes got wide.

"That's awesome," he said.

"Go get Gazzy," I said. "He hasn't see this yet."

"BRB," Iggy said, running out the hall. He came back with Gazzy.

"What's up, g-" His words cut off when he saw the electric spider webs between mine and Fang's hands. "Whoa." His eyes got so wide I thought they would pop out of his head.

"Yeah, we just recently found out what we're capable of," Fang said.

"That's so cool," he said.

"We should probably get back to the flock," I said. Me and Fang closed our hands, ending the web. We walked back to the table. Our food was sitting there, steaming and yummy looking.

"Food came while you were gone," Angel said through a mouthful of food. I sat down and dug in.

"Mmmm, so good," I said. Iggy dug right into his food, and so did Fang and Gazzy.

"Oh, my God. This is amazing," Iggy moaned.

"Heaven, that's what this is," Gazzy said. We didn't talk after that. We just ate, moaning every once and a while. When we all finished, we sat back. Looking at everyone's stomachs, all of us still had flat stomachs.

"Anyone got room for dessert?" I asked. There was a round of yeses. "'Kay." I put my hand up. "Michael," I called. He walked up.

"Yes, ma'am?" he asked politely.

"What do you guys want?" I asked.

"The brownie obsession looks really good," Max said, looking at the dessert menu. Everyone nodded.

"Okay, so we'll each have a brownie obsession. Hold the pecans on mine," I said.

"Pecans? Yuck. None on mine, either," Nudge said.

"Same here," Angel said.

"Be right back," Michaels said. _Wow, those kids have big appetites. It's a wonder they're all so skinny. But they're all really nice and polite. They're parents must have raised them right,_ I heard him think. I giggled.

"What?" Fang asked.

"Michael was just thinking about our huge appetites and how we're all so skinny, despite our food habits," I said. They laughed a bit. A couple minutes later, Michael came back with 7 plates of brownies with vanilla ice cream on top, carmel and chocolate drizzled on top. Only 4 of them had pecans on top. The other 3 were pecan-less.

"Thank you," I said as he set them in front of us.

"Your very welcome. You all are now my favorite party," he said, smiling.

"You're our favorite waiter," I said.

"I'm honored," he said. He walked away. I dug into my dessert, finishing it in a matter of minutes.

"I'm stuffed," I said, sitting back and patting my stomach.

"Same," Max said.

"Ditto," Nudge said.

"Couldn't eat anything else," Iggy said.

"You guys might want to sleep far from me tonight," Gazzy said.

"Good to know," Fang said.

"No more food," Angel groaned. When we got our bill, everyone's but my eyes practically popped out of their heads. I shrugged.

"That card is bottomless," I said. "It charges automatically to the School." Everyone smiled. I paid and we left. Fang had to carry Max. She had fallen asleep. I smiled at Fang as he carried Max in his arms.

_Shut up,_ he thought toward me.

"What?" I mouthed.

_Twin telepathy, remember? I know you're thinking about the possabilities of a mating. I think you're wrong, though,_ he thought. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm never wrong," I mouthed, turning away. Angel was sound asleep in Iggy's arms. I was carrying my bag and Angel's bag. Fang was carrying his and Max's.

"Here. You want Angel's? It's lighter," I said holding out the bag. He nodded and took Max's bag off his shoulder, handing it to me, and taking Angels little pink one. I checked us into a nearby motel. We would only be her till tomorrow, so I didn't bother getting us a big suite. It was still nice, Two king sized beds, a bathroom, and a small kitchen.

"Me, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy can fit on one bed. Then Fang, Max, and Angel can be on the other bed," I said. Fang laid Max on the bed. Iggy did the same with Angel. Fang climbed in next to Max and pulled the covers over them all.

"Aww, they're so cute," Nudge said when Fang fell asleep.

"Yeah. But we better get to bed. We have a 7 hour ride ahead of us, and we need as much energy as possible," I said. She nodded and climbed into bed. Gazzy went into bed next to her. Me and Iggy got in next to them. He wrapped his arms around me as I pulled up the covers.

"Night, Ig," I said, settling into his arms. "Looks like we can't stack fists, seeing as half the flock's asleep." Iggy chuckled and kissed my forehead.

"Go to sleep," he said. I closed my eyes and soon fell into a dream. It was about the flock. We were flying high above what looked like Africa. What the?

**Heyo! It's Rico! How'd you like it? So now Iggy can see. I don't know why I chose TGI Friday's. It's just a personal favorite of mine. If you haven't read FANG, which I haven't, but have read the first few chapters, it starts with the flock flying over Africa. That's what Jab's dream was. She can now see the future. So, I guess that's it. I have much the same questions as the last chapter, only without the third one:**

**1) Should I have Max and Fang figure out they are mated or should Jab tell them?**

**2) Should the Voice still be there?**

**4) Should there be an IggyxJab Lemon?** **FangxMax?**

**'Kay, so I'm leaving it to you. Please help. Lovies. 3**

**Love,  
The 'Fine Little Mama' (one of the perves from when they were in Arizona going to TGIF's called Jab that)**


	3. The Show Me State

**Hey, people! I hope you are enjoying my story. I hate to disappoint readers. So, as you could tell, Jab's plan to get Fang and Max to accept their mating was put into action. Also, If no one has noticed, Jab and Iggy haven't actually had a first kiss. They have never kissed on the lips yet. But that will change. So, this bascically is the flock's first half of the trip to New York. Hope you like it!  
Disclaimer: I'm not a dude, so I am not James Patterson.**

The Show Me State

**Iggy POV**

I woke up with empty arms. I panicked, feeling around the bed for Jab. There was only Gazzy and Nudge. Where was she? I heard sizzling and smelt cheese and bacon grease. Looking at the kitchen, I saw Jab making eggs and bacon. I quietly got out of bed, walking silently over to her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her jaw. She gasped.

"Morning, beautiful," I said.

"Morning," she said, returning to her cooking. "How'd you sleep?"

"Wonderfully," I said. I sniffed the food. "Man, that smells so good."

"Cheesy eggs and cripy bacon. I also just put on some blueberry pancakes," she said, nodding toward a pan that held 2 large pankakes, still in batter form. "I'm making about 14 of those, 2 for each of us."

"Mhmm," I said, trailing kisses down her neck.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that," she said. "At least not while I'm cooking."

"Okay," I said, plopping onto the small couch. It took her about another minute to get the first batch of pancakes ready, plus the eggs and bacon. About 20 minutes later, the food was all ready. I made my plate, two pancakes, lots of eggs, and 4 strips of bacon. I went over to Gazzy, who was still sleeping, and put the food right under has nose. He breathed in and his eyes shot open.

"Oh my gosh! That smells amazing!" he yelled, waking up the rest of the flock. I laughed and went over to the couch, grabbing the syrup on the way.

"Wow. That smells great," Fang said, getting up. "Jeeze, what else did they teach you at the School?"

"Karate, basket weaving, and sewing. I can alter any piece of clothing," she said. Fang rolled his eyes.

"Where'd you get all this stuff from?" Max asked, inhaling deeply.

"Woke up early. Thought I'd go get breakfast. It was pretty early so the grocery store wasn't crowded." She sat down on my lap and crossing her legs and dug into her food.

"God, they taught you good," Nudge said as she scarfed down her eggs.

"Compliments to the chef," Max said, taking a bite.

"Jesus, did I die and go to heaven?" Gazzy moaned.

"I'm lucky to have you as a sister," Fang said, finishing his pancakes.

"God, this is even better than my cooking," I said.

"Why, thank you," she said, laughing at the compliment shower.

"Okay, that was by far the best breakfast I've ever eaten," Nudge said when she finished.

"Agreed," everyone said.

"Glad you liked it," Jab said, washing the utensils. The plates were styrofoam so we just threw them away.

"Who's getting dressed first?" Jab asked. "I'm already dressed."

"I'll go," Max said, taking some clothes out of her bag and walking into the bathroom. She came out in a t-shirt that said "Green Is Sexy" and some jeans.

"Me next," Nudge said, going into the bathroom with a bundle of clothes. She came out in one of those one piece shorts things that's kind of like overalls but only their shorts.

"Now me," Angel said, pulling out some clothes and going into the bathroom. She came out in a pink shirt and blue jeans.

Fang didn't say anything. He just went into the bathroom with his clothes, coming out in a Kiss t-shirt and dark blue jeans.

"I guess I'm next," I said, getting a blue tie-dye striped shirt and some jeans and going into the bathroom. When I came out, Gazzy had his clothes all ready. He went in and came out in a Green Day American Idiot t-shirt.

"So we're all good?" I asked, as we all put our clothes from yesterday in our bags. Jab gasped and screamed a little, pulling her hand out of her bag. There was a thin ribbon of blood on her palm.

"I forgot the knife was in there," she said, pulling the knife from the Holiday Inn out of her bag. It had a drop of blood on the tip. Jab put the tip in her mouth, jetting rid of the blood. She went over to the sink and ran some water over the cut, washing away the blood there. "Iggy, get the gauze I'd gotten out of my bag, please. It's in the side pocket." I went in the side pocket, got out the gauze and brought it to her. She took it. "Thanks."

"No problem," I said. She quickly bandaged the cut and went back to her bag.

"Yeah, I think I'll keep the knife in the side pocket," Jab said, putting the knife in carefully.

"That would be a good idea," I said, picking up my bag. She stuffed her iPod and credit card in her jacket pocket and we left out. She checked us out of the motel.

"So, to New York?" Angel asked.

"The Big Apple," Max said. We walked about half a mile out of San Juan, out of sight, and took off. It felt so good to unfold my wings at that moment.

"Shoot. I forgot to put a clip in my hair," Jab said as her curls and bangs whipped in her face. She dug in her bag and pulled out what she'd been looking for, a pink polka dotted bow clip. She clipped it on the side of her hair where her side bangs were, pinning the hair out of her face. "Better."

"Hey, do you have a green one?" Max asked. "I have to cut my hair again."

"Sure." She pulled out a bow simular to her own, but green instead of pink.

"Thanks. You're a hair saver," Max said, pinning her hair out of her face.

"This'll take a while," Fang said.

"No duh," Max said.

"How long will this take?" Angel asked.

"About a day if we keep a steady pace," Jab said. "But we'll probably have to stop a couple times to rest and eat. Flying burns a lot of carlories."

"Okay," she said.

"Hey, Max. When's our first rest stop?" Fang called.

"When we get to Saint Luis, Missuri. That'll be halfway. Then we can fly the other half after we've rested," she said back.

"'Kay," he said back. I saw Jab take out her iPod.

"Gonna need something to keep me awake," she said. I shrugged. I could hear what she was listening to, still. Being blind for most of my life had taken a serious toll on my other senses. She was listening to "Beautiful Monster" by Ne-Yo. She had good taste in music, I'll give her that.

"All my life, and the here after, I've never seen, someone like you," she sang quietly. I smiled to myself. This girl was all mine. This sweet, beautiful, kick-ass girl was mine. Jab giggled and I knew she had heard my thoughts.

_They're all true,_ I thought toward her. She smiled at me. I smiled back. The rest of the flight to Saint Luis was quiet. Not an awkward quiet that you feel the need to fill. A comfy silence. That's just how the flock was. We could say nothing to each other and feel right still. Still peaceful.

"Saint Luis below, thank God," Jab said, pointing to a city below. We dove down, making sure not to be seen by the people that were just going to lunch from their jobs. They didn't seem to notice. There was no swerving of tires or screams or bright flashes of cameras, so I guess we were in the clear. We landed behind a mall and went out on the town. It felt so good to be on land after just flying for 13 hours straight.

"My legs feel like jelly," Nudge groaned.

"Same here," Jab said, leaning on me.

"I have _never_ flown for that long before," Angel said. Once the Jell-O feeling passed, we started wandering, heading nowhere in particular. A couple people were looking at us, mostly at Max and Jab. I put an arm around Jab's waist. She did the same. I noticed some girls looking at me and Fang. Oh. Jab's lips pulled back over her teeth in a snarl. I guess it was their thoughts bothering her. I actually saw some girls shrink down at the sight of her snarl. I had to admit, it was scary looking.

"Let's go to McDonalds or something. Just something fast," Max said.

"I've studied this area. There's a Burger King a couple blocks down," Jab said as she glared at a group of giggling girls. "Anything to get away from these Missuri girls. I swear, Angel has more mature thoughts than them."

"I seriously do," she said. "And I'm only 6."

"Red-necks. What are you gonna do?" Max said. We made it to the Burger King and entered. There were a bunch of people here, mostly adults on break.

"Man, look at the ass on the black-haired girl," I heard somone say to their friend.

"Dude, she's already hitting someone," his friend whispered back.

"So? I could probably do 10 times better than pretty boy," the first guy said. I quietly cursed that she was wearing a sexy black short pedicoat that I would have enjoyed seeing her in if not for all the obnoxious guys around. I glared at them. They shrunk and looked away, obviously not knowing that I had been listening. It was then that I realized that I hadn't kissed Jab, like, for real on the lips. I grabbed her hand.

"Jab, can I talk to you?" I said. She looked at me and then raised her eye brows and nodded in understanding, obviouly reading my thoughts. We walked into a corner of the joint where no one was.

"I know we haven't had a first kiss," she said.

"It just never really seemed important until now," I said, looking down. "With all these guys around." She cupped my cheek in her hand.

"Do I have to show them I'm yours?" she asked, a small smile playing on her lips. I smiled and nodded. She brought my face down to her level and pressed her lips to mine gently. It was my first kiss and it was wonderful and sweet. She slid her hands into my hair. When we pulled back, she hugged me, putting her head on my chest.

"I love you, Iggy," she said.

"I love you, too, Jab," I said, kissing the top of her head. We pulled back, each keeping an arm around the other's waist, and walked back to the flock. Nudge automatically wrapped her arms around us.

"Congrats, guys. Your first kiss," she said. We smiled and hugged her back.

"Thanks, Nudge," Jab said, kissing her cheek.

"The first of us to ever have an actual kiss," she said, pulling back. I noticed Jab's eyes flick to Fang and Max for a half second and then go back to Nudge.

"Yup, though I have kissed Cam in the past, but I wasn't actually a part of the flock then, so I suppose it doesn't count," Jab said. "Now can we get our food? We're burning our much needed calories every minute we stand here talking." We laughed and got in line. The clerk's eyes got wide as he took in Jab's every curve, her perfect face, and soft black curly hair.

"Hello, my name's Jesse. Can I get you anything?" he said a little too enthusiastically.

"Mmmm, 2 Whopper Jrs. with cheese," Fang said.

"Two boxes of 12 chicken fries and a Dutch apple pie," Angel said.

"Same," Gazzy said.

"A Whopper with cheese and medium onion rings," I said, my mouth watering at the sound of it.

"A TenderCrisp Chicken Sandwich and medium fries," Max said.

"2 BK big fishes, fish, whatever, and a medium fry," Nudge said. **(I'm not making Nudge a vegetarian, BTW.) **

"And I'm getting a Whopper with cheese and 2 boxes of the apple fries, please," Jab said sweetly. Jesse's eyes swept over our supermodel perfect, skinny bodies, obviously thinking about how we could be so skinny with our kind of appetites.

"That'll be a lot of money and food. Are you sure?" he asked. We nodded. He printed out the bill, which, I must say, was long. The price was _huge_ but Jab had no problem paying it. The more we spent, the more we got back at the School. We stood to the side and waited for our food, which took forever to come out. When it did, the lady looked at us wierd, but held back any words she might have for us. There were 5 trays of food, so me, Fang, Max, Nudge, and Jab carried them to a bar looking thing. It had spinning stools and all. We sat down, Max at the end, Fang next to her, then Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Jab, and then finally me.

"Dig in," Jab said. We ate in silence, basically just savoring the taste of the grease and meat. It was so good. We finished in about 5 minutes.

"I'm good," Nudge said.

"Same," Gazzy said.

"Agreed," the rest of us said. We threw our papers, boxes, and napkins away and left out.

"So, are we just going to stay here for a little?" Jab asked.

"Guess so," Max said, shrugging.

"Oh, well, there's this thing in Lafayette Park. They do free movies and stuff. I don't know what time it starts though. We could all go to the park," she suggested.

"That's not a half bad idea," Fang said. We walked to Lafayette Park and walked to where Jab told us the movie was, by the gazeebo. There was a huge screen set up, no chairs. Jab tapped the shoulder of a woman sitting on the grass in front of the screen.

"Excuse me miss. When does the movie start?" she asked in a sweet, innocent voice. I noticed she used that voice with strangers that she didn't have anything against.

"It starts in 15 minutes. The movie today is _Mulan II_," she said.

"Oh, good. I love the second one, though I could probably sing "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For" from the first one off the top of my head. I can do the same thing with "Like Other Girls", too, so this one'll do," Jab said. The woman laughed.

"Glad to hear that," she said. "The name's Gabrielle, but call me Gabby."

"Big co-inc-i-dink, my name's _Jab_rielle, but just call me Jab. This is bascally my family, Iggy, Max, Fang, Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge." She pointed each of us out. "But, as you can see, we;re not related. Well, Gazzy and Angel are. And Fang and me are twins." She was rambling almost as bad as Nudge.

"Nice to meet you all," Gabby said. "You can sit with me if you want." We nodded and sat down. "There's free popcorn over at the gazeebo. You could get some."

"I'll get it," Jab said, getting up and walking over to the gazeebo.

"You love her, don't you, Iggy?" Gabby asked me suddenly. I nodded.

"You can't even try to imagine how much," I sighed, sitting back on my arms.

"You just have this sort of brightness to you when you're around her. She makes you happy." She said it as a statement of fact, not needing confirmation. I nodded anyways.

"Very," I said. Jab came back with an armful of popcorn bags.

"Someone please take these before I drop them," she begged. I chuckled and got up, taking some from her and handing them to the flock.

"I don't really think we'll be in the state to leave after the movie, guys," I said to the flock. "We should proably stay here." Max nodded.

"Iggy has a point. I think we all want to watch a movie and we'll be too tired to leave for New York right after the movie. It's probably best to stay here, like, in Missuri, for the night." They said their okays and we sat back to wait for the movie to start. I was laying on my stomach, facing the screen, my head on my folded arms. Jab was laying on my back with her head on my head. I reached back and ran a hand through her soft hair.

"Love you," I said. She took my hand and kissed my palm.

"Love you, too," she said, circling her arms around my neck. The movie started and we watched. I soon found that Jab also knew the words to "Lesson Number One".

"Are the Mulan movies your favorite of all time?" I whispered. I felt her shrug against my back.

"Not really. I am just in love with the songs," she said. "I love Mai," she said when the princesses showed up. "She's really free feeling and lives by her own rules."

"Right on," Max, Angel, and Nudge said, puming their fist in the air.

"Ting Ting tick ticks me off sometimes," Nudge said. Then, later in the movie, came time for "Like Other Girls". Sure enough, Jab sung it with Mei, Su, and Ting Ting.

"The life of a princess  
From her birth is well defined.  
She must humbly serve her country,  
Play the part she's been assigned.  
She guards the hopes of her people,  
Weak and mighty, rich and poor.  
Who could ever ask for more?  
Who could ever ask for mooooore?

"I wanna be like other girls!  
Climb up a tree like other girls can.  
Just to be free like other girls  
Get to be!

"To slouch when I sit.  
To eat a whole cake.  
Feel the sun on my feet.  
Get dirty, act silly.  
Be anything I want to be.  
Dance around  
In my underwear.

"To run really fast.  
Get rid of this fan!  
To eat a whole cake.  
Get crazy.  
With frosting.

"No escorts,  
No manners  
No nursemaids  
No worries,  
No hands folded perfect,  
Like holding a lily.

"No pinchy shoes!

"I wanna be like other girls!  
Scrape up my knee like other girls can.  
Just to be free like other girls  
Get to be.

"To speak for myself.  
To sing way off key!  
To marry someone I met  
Who loves me for me.  
No escorts,  
No manners,  
No nursemaids,  
No worries.  
No hands folded perfect,  
Like holding a lily.  
No pinchy shoes!

"I wanna be like other girls!  
Climb up a tree like other girls can.  
Just to be free like other giiiiiirrrrrrrls  
Get to beeeeeeeeeeee."

**(Sorry if I got any lyrics wrong.)**

She hit the last high note perfectly. The crowd of people at the movie actually clapped to her.

"Thank you, thank you," Jab said. "You'll find my CD at the exit." People laughed and returned to the movie. When Shang and Mulan called off the wedding, Angel pouted.

"I hate you, Mushu," she mumbled. I laughed. Then her reation to them getting back together was even better. "Yes! Wedding's on!" That made me laugh even harder. It did the same to Jab. She rolled straight off me, landing with a thump.

"Ouch," she said, rubbing the back of her head with her bandaged hand. When the movie ended, Angel jumped up clapping. She's the only one who's never seen the movie. Well, I haven't technically seen it, but I knew what was happening. Angel had no idea whatsoever.

"Let's sleep at the beach, guys. I don't feel in the mood for a hotel anymore," Jab said. "I'd probably be too tired to get up the steps, anyways."

"Agreed. To the beach," Max said. We settled on the beach, putting our bags under the trees. Angel and Gazzy went to swim in the water. Nudge went looking for shells, Max just watched them, Fang, being, well, himself, layed down in the sand, and me and and Jab sat at the water's edge, listening to the waved.

"This is nice," she said, leaning her head on my shoulder. It was sunset and the sun was a bright orange, the sky all sorts of pinks, purples, and blues. "Twilight's one of my favorite times of day."

"Mine, too. It's always really beautiful." I laid back, letting the water wash over my hair and back. Jab did the same.

"Guys! Guys! Guys! I found a conch shell!" Nudge yelled. Jab hopped up.

"No way! Let me see!" she yelled, running over to Nudge. "That is so cool!"

"I know right?" Nudge said. I sighed and sat up. Just then I heard some rustling in the woods at the edge of the beach. _Erasers,_ was the first thought that really came to mind. But it turned out to be a human wandering around. No real threat unless he had a gun or something.

"Hello. Are you all lost?" he asked.

"Not really. Just having a little fun at the beach," Max said, throwning sand at Fang.

"Piss off, Max," he said.

"Make me," she retorted, throwning more sand at him.

"Okay." He got up and started thowing sand back. It was basically a sand wars. The human laughed.

"Okay, sorry to bother you," he said. He started to walk farther down the beach. The sand war raged on, though. I soon joined it.

"Eat my dust!" I screamed, throwning sand at them both. The war continued until we called a truce. It was dark by then.

"Fang, Iggy, can you go get some fire wood, please?" Jab said. We nodded and went into the woods to get some wood. We came back with our arms full. "Excelent." We dropped them into a pile. Jab held her hands, palm out, to Fang. "Shal we?"

"We shal." They did their thing, making the electronic spider web and lighting the wood on fire.

"Thank God for you two being living batteries," Max said, sitting down next to the fire.

"Ooo, guys. I found out we can do it on our own, too," Jab said. She pressed her hands together and pulled them apart, reveiling a web simular to the one she and Fang had just used to make the fire. "Try it, Fang." He mimicked her, pressing his hands together and pulling apart. Nothing. "You need a little more concentration than when it's both of us." Fang nodded and tried again, succeeding.

"Cool," he said with a straight face.

"I wish I could do that," Angel said.

"Don't we all wish we had electricity growing out of our fingers?" Max said. I laughed.

"I wanna try something," Jab said. She ended the web and made single strands of blue lightning by just pressing her fingers together. She started making lines around us, each a couple inches from each other, and going out about 5 feet. I got what she was doing. She was making a barrier, just in case any Erasers found us. "This stuff is abaout 70 watts per inch per strand. That'll make one hot dog," Jab said, laying down the last strand. We stacked fists and laid down, Jab on my chest, Max hugging Angel, Nudge's back pressed to Max's, and Fang and Gazzy all alone.

"Night, Max, Angel, Fang, Nudge, Jab, Iggy," Gazzy said.

"Brady Bunch much?" Jab said. "Night, guys."

"Night," Nudge said.

"Nighty night," Angel said.

"Is Fang asleep already?" I asked.

"Yup," Gazzy said.

"Great. Good night, guys," I said.

"Sweet dreams," Max said. We fell to sleep fast. But I was woken up by movement on my chest and little whines. I opened my eyes to see Jab thrashing on my chest, still asleep. She was whining and sweaty. I shook her.

"Jab, wake up," I said. Her eyes shot open. She blinked a couple times and then her eyes rested on me.

"Iggy!" She wrapped her arms around my neck.

"It's okay, Jab. I'm here." The only question was what exactly is it? Her body started shaking from her sobs. I sat up, bringing Jab up with me. Her legs were on either side of me so she was stratling me. I knew this was bad. This was Jab. I knew that it took a lot to make her cry like this. "Don't cry, Jab. Please. What's wrong?"

"My... dream. So... scary," she gasped out between sobs. The flock woke up soon.

"Oh my gosh. What happened?" Max asked in concern, rubbing Jab's back.

"Jabby? What's wrong?" Nudge asked.

"What'd you do?" Fang asked me.

"I didn't do anything to her," I said. "She said she had a bad dream."

"This must have been one hellish dream to make her like this," he said. "She's strong, I'll tell you that."

"Can you talk yet?" Max asked Jab softly. She shook her head no, barely recognisable due to the wild shakes of her sobs. "Can you try?"

"Max... Erasers... Ari... Fang... so scary," she got out.

"Okay, anything else?" Max asked.

"Ari... Fang... fight... blood... Iggy... me... crazy... scary." She gasped the random words out in between her sobs, which were getting harder and rougher sounding and feeling. I squeezed her tighter, trying to still her.

"She needs to stop talking. Her sobs are getting hard. Like, scary hard," I said.

"NO! Have... to... tell you. So... real... think...it was. Future," she gasped out, her usually angellic voice rough and uneven.

"What do you mean future?" Fang asked, putting a hand on her cheek. "Jesus, your burning up!"

"Like... vision. Real... vivid. Angel... look," she said. We were silent, besides Jab's sobs.

"Wow, that's really scary," Angel said after a minute.

"Can... tell... them?" Jab asked Angel. She nodded.

"In New York, we were at a beach. There were all these Erasers around. Then I don't know what happened to cause it, but Fang and Ari were fighting, Ari winning. Iggy was passed out on the ground. Ari slammed Fang's fead into a rock. There was so much blood. Jab got defensive and attacked Ari. She had the upperhand, being her. It was pretty scary what she was doing to him. I don't want to evaluate."

"Thank... Angel," Jab gasped out.

"No problem. Anythinng to make you feel better," Angel said, hugging Jab's waist.

"Well, no way am I letting Ari beat me down," Fang said.

"Back this train up real quick," Max said. "You said you saw the _future_?" Jab nodded. "So this is, what, like your 3rd ability?"

"Guess so," Jab said shakily. Her sobs had calmed down, but her breathing was hard and ragged.

"Did you have any other vivid dreams?" Max asked.

"Last night, but it was just about the flock, flying above Africa. There were some dudes shooting at us, humans on camels, but we beat them. We landed with a plane at some kind of camp. That's when I woke up. I didn't think much of it at first, but I think it was a vision." She looked at Max.

"You don't think..." Max trailed off.

"No way. We are not saving the world," Jab said.

"We might," Fang said. "If it was in your vision it could come true. Now, come on. We need to get you to the water to cool off. Your skin's way above average." Her skin was hot and it stung a little even through mine and her shirts. Her cheeks weren't their usual pink. They were blood red, like someone had painted it on her face. I stood up and walked into the water, kneeling down so that she was neck deep in the water.

"That dream, vision, whatever, I think you were dead," she said softly.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said, hugging her. She rested her head on my shoulder.

"Why does this kind of stuff have to happen to us?" she said.

"'Cause we're different. We're not suppose to have smooth sailing lives," I said into her damp hair. "But we'll figure this out. We'll all have our happily ever after, even Fang and Max." She stilled. I smiled. "Yeah, I figured it out."

"You're gonna help me get them together?" she asked.

"Of course. They're made for each other," I said. "And I would help you move the sun closer to the south pole if you asked me to."

"Thank you, Iggy," she said. She let a bit of a southern accent leak into her voice.

"Hey, do I hear a southern accent in there? Where'd that come from?" I asked.

"I lived in a School in Texas for about 5 years before they moved me to the California one," she said.

"They moved you? And there's more than one hell hole? This just gets better and better," I said. Jab giggled.

"Don't worry. When we _save the world_ we'll shut the Schools down," she said. I smiled and felt her cheek.

"Hey, you cooled off," I said. I carried her back to the beach, taking off my soaked shirt.

"Good night, again," I said.

"Night, guys," Max said. "Wake right up if you have another bad dream, or vision, or whatever, 'kay, Jab?"

"Gocha," she said.

"Sweet dreams, Jabby," Nudge said.

"Hope you feel better," Gazzy said.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Jab. I was so close to a heartattack," Fang said, hugging Jab.

"I'm okay, Fang," Jab said, hugging him back. "No need to have a panic attack or anything."

"'Kay. Don't go leaving me now. I just got you in my life," he said. Jab smiled and layed down on my chest, her wet hair splaying out across it. I wrapped my arms around her. What she had said still rang in my head.

_"I think you were dead." _No, I wouldn't let that happen. I remember the way she sounded when Cam died. I wouldn't put her through that again. Her breath evened and her eyes closed. She was asleep. My arms tightened around her, keeping her with me and me with her for as long as possible, just in case her vision came true.

**Awww, so sweet! I know you all hate me for the whole Iggy might die thing, but this'll just bring them closer, making it so that they'll want to spend as much time together as possible, just in case it was cut short. So, here comes the outfits! I lurve the thought of Iggy and Fang jellin' cause guys are hitting on Max and Jab. We'll also be introducted to the Voice in the next chapie. I love him/ her/ it! Whatever the Voice is. As Max said, she couldn't identify it. Voice is honestly one of my faves. He makes stuff fun. Okay, so, same Qs as the last chapie. Please, please, please help me! Love you, my little freaks!**

**Love,  
Fangette **


	4. Empire State of Mind

**Oh my freakin' gosh! I just found out that there will be a Maximum Ride movie! It doesn't have a date or anthting, but the estimated year is 2013. Sure, that's a long time, but it's better than no Max movie at all! Am I the only one screaming inside? I hope not. If you don't believe me, go to ****.com/title/tt0825283/****. Check it out! I know you want to! Tell me your reaction to this little peice of info.  
'Kay, so, I know you all are plotting to kill me if I kill Iggy like in Jab's vision. I'm debating, okay? But in the end, he will be alive. I hate sad endings. Everyone will be happy. This is basically Jab training the others in the fighting she learned in the School and them going to New York. Hope you enjoy!  
Disclaimer: I own nothing in Maximum Ride, except Jab and Cam, though he's dead. Sob.**

Empire State of Mind

**Jab's POV**

I woke up from a dreamless sleep and yawned. I didn't want to get up, but I knew I had to. I looked up to see Iggy sleeping peacefully. I smiled and unwrapped his arms from around me. He stirred a bit, but stayed asleep. I carefully got up, not jostling him in the least. He sighed and turned on his side, his back to me.

"So cute," I whispered, bending down and kissing his hair. I walked quietly over to our bags, which were right where we left them under the trees. I got out a beach towel I had got and put it at the edge of the water, getting dressed and stepping into the fresh water farther out. I washed the sand out of my hair, between my toes, and in few other places I'd rather not talk about. Falling asleep wet on the beach had sure taken its toll. Suddenly someone's arms wrapped around me. I gasped.

"Hey," Iggy said into my ear. I smiled and leaned back, feeling that he was naked.

"Hey. Did you sleep well?" I asked, turning around to take in his perfection.

"Great, actually," he said. He turned serious. "How about you?"

"Good. No dreams/visions," I said.

"How about we just call the visions visions and the regular dreams dreams?" he suggested.

"I can agree to that," I said.

"The flock's asleep. What do you want to do?" Iggy said, kissing my neck suggestively.

"Not today, Iggy. Not now, with the flock a couple dozen yards away from us and no walls to separate us," I said. He frowned an pouted. I laughed and kissed his pouted bottom lip.

"Wash up. You're probably covered in sand," I said, ruffling his hair. Sand fell out of it. "See?"

"Okay." He started to run water through his hair as I walked to shore.

"Don't you dare look," I called to him. He chuckled and turned away. I ran to shore, wrapping the towel around my body. I sat down next to my bag and got out some sweats. I decided I would try to teach the flock some karate, seeing as we will probably start to get atacked by Erasers.

Just then, I kind of got sucked out of my body, but I was still me. I was looking at a scene, staring Max and Fang. They were sitting on a dock, talking. I was right behind them on the dock, but they didn't notice.

"Hey, guys," I said. No answer. Then I got it. This was a vision. Of course!

"Max, I have a confession to make," Fang said. Max gave him her undivided attention. "I-I love you." Max was silent for a second, just looking at Fang. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, bringing him down on top of her. His hands went into her hair, which was shorter than it was in the present.

"I love you, too, Fang," she said against his lips. Okay, it was about time I got out of here. I tryed to force myself out, but didn't succeed.

"Cut it out!" I screamed at them. They were fully making out by now. Of course they didn't hear me. I screamed bloody murder. "Let me out of here!" Nothing. "Come on!" I stomped my foot. I snapped back into the present, meeting Iggy's very worried looking blue eyes.

"What just happened?" he asked worrily.

"Vision," I said, grinning like an idiot.

"Obviously it was good," he said, smiling a bit.

"Wonderful. Max and Fang kissed!" I exploded.

"Wow, we're good," he said.

"I'll say. We should be the hosts of Tough Love," I said. "And maybe find Flavor Flave a girl while we're at it."

"Agreed," he said. We got dressed and went back onto the beach.

"I think I should teach you guys some moves. You know, just in case we're found," I said.

"Okay. What's first, coach?" he asked.

"Lesson number one, of course," I said, using a Mulan referance. Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Of course you would say that," he said.

"Ignoring that, I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself. It's how I survived before I mated with Cam." I stood several yards away from Iggy. I crossed my arms across my chest. "Come at me." He smiled and charged, going for a punch to the gut. I grabbed his hand an inch away from my stomach and twisted his arm behind his back. "My first lesson is to never let your guard down and focus on your opponent's every movement and his suroundings, as well as yours. Erasers are tricky like that."

"Understood," he said. "Can I have my arm back?" I let him go and folded my arms again.

"Come at me again," I said. He tried again with the punch. I dodged it. He surprised me, though, with a kick to the waist. I stumbled a bit.

"That was good. A rebound." I rubbed my side. "That was a good kick, too."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. I smiled at him.

"Trust me, you won't be so sorry if you do it to an Eraser," I said. We spent the time before the rest of the flock woke up training. He was pretty good.

"What'd he do?" Max asked me with a amused grin on her face.

"Hey, sleepy head," I said, landing a kick to Iggy's side. He toppled over and I put my foot on his stomach. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," I said, leaning over him. He smiled and nodded. I got my foot off of him and helped him to his feet. "Actually, I'm going to show you guys how to fight."

"Cool. Seeing you out on the field at the School, it just might keep us alive," Max said. Soon, Fang, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy joined us.

"Arms straight, Angel," I said, taking her arms and helping her get the right fighting stance to punch. "Good." I kneeled in front of her and held out my hands. She practiced her punching on them. It actually hurt. "Wow. What have you been taking, girl?" I said. She smiled proudly and started practicing on the air so I could help the others. "Good job, Gaz. But keep your other leg straight," I said. He nodded and do as told. "Perfect."

"Let's spar. I'm feeling lucky," Nudge said. I smiled and nodded, getting into a fighting stance. She did the same. She made the first move, going for a punch to the gut. I dodged and hit the side of her head. She stumbled, but came back right away.

"Are we wearing the outfits on the way to New York, or when we get there?" Nudge asked as she landed a kick to my shoulder.

"When we get there. Short stuff gets breezy," I said. She nodded and I punched her gut she doubled over with a grunt, recovering quickly.

"Iggy's gonna be... happy, to say the least," she said. I smiled.

"Yup. But he'll also be protective. And so will Fang," I said. There was somewhat of a double meaning to my words. He would be protective of me, sure. He'd also be protective of Max.

"Fang is a lot more-umph," she said as I kicked her in the gut. She fell and I went on top of her, holding her arms down. I smirked.

"I win." She laughed. I got off of her and helped her up.

"Jab! Fang won't let me up!" Max yelled. I looked in her direction to see her on the ground, Fang holding her down, smirking.

"She didn't say the magic word yet," he said.

"I'm going to kill you," Max said. Fang got up. "What'd I say?"

"Kill's the magic word," I said.

"Oh," she said.

"I want to see you two spar. And, Max, you better win," I said. They shrugged and got into defensive position. Max went for the face, but he dodged, hitting her in the gut. Air wooshed out of Max as she double over. Fang went for a kick to the side, but Max recovered and grabbed his foot, pushing it outward. She kicked his legs out from under him and he fell to the ground with an _umph_. Max took the opportunity to pin him down.

"I win," she said. "Now what's _my_ magic word?" I chuckled as I read it from her mind.

"I don't know. Angel?" he guessed. She shook her head. "Sally?"

"No," she said.

"Tweety?"

"Nope." Max's grin got bigger. Realization flashed across his face.

"I am _not_ saying that," he said.

"You have to say it, Fang. She's not getting off of you until you say it," I said. He sighed.

"Fangalicous," he mumbled incoherently.

"What was that?" Max said playfully.

"FANGALICOUS! Fangalicous, okay? Can you hear me now?" he yelled. Max fell to the ground laughing. So did I. "Piss off," he said.

"Fang, it's true. You're Fangalicous," I said. He rolled his eyes and went to practice with Iggy.

"Oh, God. My side hurts!" Max said. I nodded in agreement. Once we stopped laughing, Max and I sat on the sand.

"You know you can trust me with anything, right?" I said. She looked at me and smiled.

"Yeah, I know," she said. She took a deep breath. "I like Fang."

"Finally, she admits it!" I said. "Do you even know what mind reading is?" I asked.

"You knew." It wasn't a question, but a staement of fact. I nodded.

"But I can't tell you any of Fang's thoughts, nor am I going to tell Fang any of yours. I don't tell people each other's thoughts. That's just how I am, respecting privacy as far as I can. I can't stop myself from knowing other's thoughts, opinions, so on, but I can protect them from others, you know, unless it's the difference between life and death, or if it's not really private, like what I told you the waiter was thinking."

"Well, that sucks." She looked at her hands. I put a hand on her arm.

"If things are meant to be, they'll be. Just give it time," I said softly. Max smiled at me. We hugged.

"You're a great friend," Max said, kissing my cheek. I smiled.

"So are you. You're just the friend with the boy issues," I said. She giggled and pulled back.

"Are we wearing those outfits?" she asked. I noded.

"But when we get there. Mini skirts get breezy," I said. She nodded and got up. The flock trained for about an hour. The sun was approaching its peak.

"We better head out now, before it's noon," Max said. We nodded and in a matter of minutes, we were flying.

"I beleive I can fly!" I sang. "I beleive I can touch the sky!"

"You are truly crazy, Jab," Fang said, laughing and shaking his head. I smiled.

"So are you," I said. He rolled his eyes. I spent the ride to New York singing to myself and reading everyone's thoughts, just for the heck of it.

_So... tired,_ Nudge thought.

_I really wish Jab would just tell me Max's thoughts,_ Fang thought.

_I really wish Jab would just tell me Fang's thoughts._ Max.

_I really really hope Jab's vision doesn't come true._ Iggy.

_Mama-Mia! There I go again! _Gazzy. I nearly burst out laughing, but did go into hysterics in my mind. Angel looked aat me. I nodded toward Gazzy. She looked. Soon she was struggling not to look.

_I know, right, _I thought toward her.

_That's too funny. I have to tease him anout that later, _Angel thought back.

_Cut me off a piece of that action,_ I thought back. I got bored with the flock's thoughts, so I turned to my iPod. I bet you all are wondering how it's still alive. The School didn't only do genetic engeniring. That was only the main thing. They also made stuff for the future, and one of those things was a cordless iPod charger. Came in handy.

"Hey, guys! New York below!" I yelled to the flock. They nodded and we dived down. It was easy not to be seen. It was about 8:30 at night.

"Hotel or Central Park?" I asked as we landed on tree branches in Central park.

"Hotel," we all said together. We jumped down from the branches and walked out like we had just been walking through the woods. At night. Ha. I didn't know about the hotels in New York, so I asked someone.

"Excuse me," I said, tapping the shoulder of aboy a couple years older than me. His eyes bugged when he saw me. I was really getting sick of that. "Do you know any good hotels around here?"

"You could come to mine," he said, smirking. Iggy growled at him. Like, literally growled like an animal. The guy shrunk. "Dude, put him on a leish."

"Iggy, calm down," I said, hugging his arm. He looked down at me and relaxed. He took a deep breath and looked back at the guy.

"Just tell us if you know where any good places to stay are before I do something I regret," he said through clenched teeth.

"Okay, okay. There's the New York Palace and Madison, but that place is expensive," he said. I smirked.

"We _do_ expensive," I said, flashing my eagle designed bottomless beauty.

"Wow," was his briliant response.

"Yeah." I put it away. "Thanks for the help." We turned away in the direction of Madison Avenue, but he decided to dig his own grave by stuffing what I could only assume was his phone number in my back pocket. I gasped and whirled around, taking it out of my pocket.

"When you dunp blondie, call me," I read aloud. I heard Iggy let out another growl. As sexy as it was, I really didn't want to be banded from Manhattan.

"Grab him," I yelled to the flock as I wrapped my arms around Iggy's waist and tried to hold him back. Max wrapped her arms around my waist, then Fang around Max's, Gazzy's around his, Nudge's around his, then Angel around hers.

"Heave, hoe!" Max yelled and we pulled back.

"Run, dumb butt!" I yelled at the guy. He did as told and took off in the opposite direction. We were still struggling with Iggy.

"Ig, calm the H-E-double hockey sticks down!" I yelled at Iggy. "He's gone." Iggy stopped struggling, causing us all to go tumbling backwards. "Jesus, Iggy! It doesn't really matter if they flirt with me. I'll never flirt back," I all but yelled at him. "Now get off me! You weigh a ton!"

"Sorry," he said, getting off me and offering a hand to help me up. I ignored it. I was mad at him for being so jealous over nothing. I got up on my own and then helped the rest of the flock up.

"Come on, guys. We should get going before it gets too crowded on the streets. That won't be good. We could get snatched by an Eraser easily with no one noticing," I said without looking at Iggy. We set off to mid Manhattan where Madison Ave. was and when we got to the New York Palace, we stopped dead in our tracks. It was like a princess's castle, only modernized. It was tall, like 1000 feet in to air big. The courtyard was elegant, the entrance an iron gate. I stared at it, dazzled.

"Wow," I said. "We are _so _staying here." We jogged in through the gates and big metal and glass doors. Eyes turned towards us. The guy at the check out desk was medium height, with black hair and hazel eyes. He frowned at us.

"Can I help you?" he asked irratably.

"We'd like to check in," I said. "For about a week."

"Is this some sort of trick? You can't even aford the New York Palace's One-Room Suite, let alone one to fit all seven of you," he said like he did my taxes or something.

"Oh, can't we?" I said, holding up my credit card. His eyes got so wide that they nearly fell out of his skull.

"Very well, then, ma'am. How many rooms?" he asked.

"Three, thank you," I said. I read the name out of his mind. "The Three-Bedroom Specialty Suite." His eyes got wide.

"Are you sure? That's a lot-"

"Of money, I know, I know. You don't know how many times I've heard that in the past 48 hours, buddy," she said. "This baby's bottomless. So get us our got danged room!"

"Yes ma'am," he said and shook a bit. I felt bad. Iggy had just put me in a bad mood.

"I'm sorry about yelling at you. I'm just in a bad mood. I mean it," I said in a calmer tone. He smiled a bit.

"Well, let's see the card," he said. He swiped it. "Every day that you stay, money will be taken out of your card."

"Thank you," I said as he gave me the key.

"My pleasure," he said.

"May I get your bads?" the bellboy, Sean, his nametag read, asked us uncertainly.

"No thanks. These are our only bags," I said. He nodded and we made our way to the elevador. Angel pressed the 18 button, the floor our room was on. When we got to our floor, we went down the halls full of paintings and found out room. I unlocked it and froze in the doorway.

"I could get use to New York," I said, running inside. It was _huge_, decorated in tan and whites and blues. I loved it! It was awesome and lively. There was 3 bedrooms, one master, and 2 guest rooms. The master had a huge king sized bed, a closet, and a bathroom. I stepped inside and gasped. It was huge. It was marble with a separate shower and, oh my God, Jacuzzi tub. I was officially in heaven.

"I call the master!" I calledto the flock. They came inand looked around in amazement.

"No fair," Fang said.

"You're just too slow."

"I call the big guest room!" Max and Fang both called at the same time.

"Then you two share. Gazzy and Angel can fit into one of the smaller beds and then Nudge has the last bed all to herself," I said. "Iggy, I'm still pissed at you, but you're not sleeping on the couch," I said. He smiled. "Okay, guys, let's get some sleep so we can maybe get an early- ahhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed and hugged the computer in the lunge room on the big desk. "Please say it has internet." I tuned it on and double clicked on the Inernet Explorer shortcut. Google came up. "Ohmigosh! This is so great! I can't believe we have the internet! I can can finally get back online!" I felt like I was going to faint.

"Jeeze, I've never seen anyone so excired about a c-" Fang started, but that Nudge and Angel started to hug the computer.

"I can't beleive how lucky we are!" Nudge squealed.

"Never mind," Fang said, rolling his eyes. "I'm getting ready for bed."

"Guys, for once, Fang is right. We need our sleep so we can look for the Institute tomorrow," Max said. We stacked fists and went to our rooms. I changed in the changing area in the master room while Iggy got dressed in the actual room.

"Are you decent?" I asked him, He chuckled.

"Yes, Jab, I'm decent," he said. I was wearing simply a really, really big t-shit that had a picture of Alice on it and said "Team Alice" on it. All I had under it was some boy shorts. Iggy stared.

"What? Hot Topic doesn't sell PJs," I said, climbing into bed next to him. "What was up with you earlier? You were acting totally un-you." He sighed.

"I don't know. I was just so angry, I guess I didn't want other guys flirting with you because I didn't want there to be a chance you'd go with them," he said. I looked at him.

"Iggy, there's no one else in the world I'd rather be with. Don't forget that," I said.

"You don't know that," he mumbled, looking down. I cupped his cheek and forced him to look me in the eyes.

"Yes I do know that, because God made us mates. God's decisions are the best," I said, smiling. He smiled.

"I'm not religious," he said.

"Well, I am," I said and kissed him. His arms circled my waist, pulling me to his body. He started to pull my shirt off, but I shook my head, still kissing him. "Not tonight." He nodded. We pulled apart gasping for air and we leaned our foreheads together.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you, too," he said and kissed my nose. I giggled and nestled my head in the crook of his neck.

"Goodnight," I said, closing my eyes and listening to his pulse. I soon fell asleep. But I was woken up by a scream. It was Max. I shot up, ignoring the dizzy spell from getting up too quickly. I ran to Fang and Max's room. Max was in a fetal position holding her head in her hands and screaming.

"Fang! What's wrong with her?" I yelled to Fang, who was rubbing back.

"Whenever I ask, she says she's having a brain attack. But I have no idea what that is," he said. I sat on the bed and held Max.

"Max, talk to me through your thought," I told her.

_It hurts like hell!_ she said.

"Yeah, I can kind of already tell that. And so can all of Manhattan. More details, please," I said.

_It feels like someone just slit my head open really slowly with a God damned samari sword._

"Okay, first, colorful language. And second, on a scale from 1 to 20, 20 being the worse, where is it?"

_10,000!_

"Where is it?" I asked.

_Everywh- Wait, it's gone. _She stopped screaming.

"What the hell," I muttered to myself. Everyone else came running in.

"God, what is the freakin' damage?" Nudge asked sleepily.

"Honestly, we don't know," I said. "Max had the head version of a heart attack, and then it was gone."

"Um, that's weird," Gazzy said.

_Some things are never as they seem. _WTF? Who's voice was that? Max was looking around and so was Angel.

"Did you guys just hear that?" Max asked.

"I did," I said.

"Ditto," Angel said.

"Who was that? I couldn't even tell if it was a girl or a guy. A grown up or kid. Friend or foe.

_I am none of the above, _the Voice said and that was when I realized the voice was coming from Max's head, but it wasn't Max thinking it.

"Okay, this is freaking me out," Max said. "Who's in here?"

"Max, I didn't even hear it," Iggy said.

"And it's coming from your head," I said. She stared at me.

"What?" she yelled. "I have freakin' voice in my head? Am I going crazy or something?"

"I don't think so. Maybe it has to do with the chip," I said.

"Maybe," Max said. "Too bad I can't get it removed. Looks like I'm stuck, if it is the chip causing all this." She shrugged.

"But you just nearly gave me a freakin' heart attack. There has to be a way to get that thing out," I said. "I don't think it's a tracker, though. If it were, they would have gotten us in Arizona. Or San Juan. Or Saint Luis. Or they would have stormed this hotel by now."

"True, but maybe they're waiting for orders," Fang said.

"From the Director," I said.

"Yeah, I heard the Director mensioned at the School. Who is that?" Nudge said.

"I don't really know _who_ he is. I know he's somewhat an experiment, he's rich, and he directs some company that works with the School. It's not the Institute, though," I said. "I think he was part robot or something."

"Half robot, half human?" Fang asked. "_And _he's rich? This just gets better and better."

"Dude, we should somewhat be thankful if he's the one keeping the Erasers away. Well, if the chip is a tracker," Gazzy said.

"Can we talk about this tomorrow. Well, later today?" Nudge groaned. I looked at the clock. 2:36 am.

"Oh," I said. "Yeah, that would work." We all went back to our rooms.

"I'm worried," I said to Iggy. "Now I know how you guys feel, huh?" Iggy chuckled.

"Yeah. Maybe it was Max's payback on you," he said.

"Nah. I would have saw it coming," I said. "Because I'm Alice Cullen, remember?"

"Yeah," he said and kissed my forehead. "Now go to sleep." I laid my head on his chest and fell back to sleep with no interuptions.

**Yay! Voice! God I love... well, I'm just going to say him, because I always thought of Voice as a guy with a semi alto voice. Not Michael Jackson alto, but not as low as most guys. Send your words of wisdom in for the Voice to say and the situations the flock gets pulled into. Anyways, I also would like to thank Xandra J. for being my only reviewer at this point. Hope to get more, but if not, I have her :D. Also, how do you like the little Faxness vision? What causes it will sure shock you, though.  
R&R, please! Because I 3 you all! Kiss Kiss! Hug Hug!**

**Love, **

**Jabby XD**


	5. Big Apple

**Ashley P. in the hisouse! Haha! Any who, how have my little bird kids been? Good, I hope? Well, there isn't much to say except that I still happy I finally put the voice in. God I love... him?... her? Who knows. Whatever it is. Haha. Well, ON WITH THE SHOW!  
Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is not mine. I could start a long, rambling lecture about how completely impossible that is, but that would waist time.**

Big Apple

**Iggy POV**

Shifting on the bed woke me up the next morning. I opened my eyes to see Jab get up, stretch, and yawn.

"Morning," I said. She jumped 20 feet in the air. I chuckled.

"Jesus, Iggy, if you scare me one more time, I _will _have a heart attack and then come back to haunt you," she hissed, her hand over her heart. Yeah, I probably don't want a ghost Jab to come after me. "Good morning." She kissed my temple. "I'll call room service," she said, going out to the living room. I did the same. She leaned on the back of the couch and I leaned next to her, listening as she called room service.

"Hello? Room sevice? Can you send a large cheese omlette, sausage, bacon, extra crispy and blueberry pancakes up to room 34? Wait a second, please." She covered the mouth piece with her hand and turned to me with raised eye brows. "What do you want?"

"Same as you, only I want chocolate chips instead of blueberries," I whispered. She nodded and put the phone back up to her ear.

"And then the same order, but only chocolate chip instead of blueberries. Thank you," she said and hung up. I smirked.

"Do you have a blueberry fetish or something?" I asked. She giggled.

"No, they're just my favorite, is all." She shrugged. "And from what I hear, bombs are _your_ favorite. Got an explosives fetish much?" I laughed.

"Touche," I said.

"So, what's up for today?" she asked, wrapping her arms around my neck. "Just hitting the town for a day?"

"Maybe," I answered, wrapping my arms around her waist. "Maybe we could go to that giant toy store in New York. The FAO Schwarz, I think it was called." She nodded.

"That's it. The most amazing toy store in the world. I saw it online and it is amazing. If there is a toy you want, it's in there," she said. "Like Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. God, I love that movie."

"And I bet there is plenty of stuff that Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge will want," I said. As if on cue, the flock came yawning in.

"What, you couldn't have been here, like, say, 5 minutes ago when I was on the phone with room service?" Jab asked.

"Call 'em back, then," Fang slured sleepily, rubbing his eyes. She rolled her eyes.

"What do you guys want?" she asked.

"Pancakes," Nudge said, plopping down on the couch. "'Bout 6 of 'em."

"Large omlette," Max said.

"3 breakfast sandwiches." Gazzy rubbed his hands together.

"Ditto," Angel agreed with her brother.

"3 cinnamon pancakes, sausage, and a regular omlette," Fang ordered.

"'Kay," Jab said, calling room service back up and telling them. She giggled after a slight pause after telling the orders. "There are 7 of us, sir." She smiled. "Thank you."

"What was so funny?" I asked when she plopped down on the floor at my feet, leaning her back on the couch.

"The guy was seriously wowed by the amount of food we had and asked if we had a party up here," she explained. I chuckled and started twirling her soft curly hair around my hands. There was a knock on the door 15 minutes later.

"I'll get it," Jab said. She opened the door to see a guy, about 20 years old with brown hair and dark grey eyes, in a bellboy uniform and wheeling around a cart full of food. "Thank you." Jab took the cart into the room, gave the bellboy a tip, and shut the door. "Dig in." We turned on the TV and stuffed our faces. We didn't talk much.

"Oh my gosh, this is so good," Nudge moaned through her mouthful of buttermilk pancakes.

"Ditto," we all agreed. We finished in 10 minutes, picking off of each others plates.

"I. Am. Full," Jab said, leaning her head on my knee.

"Me, too," agreed Nudge.

"I can't eat any more food," Angel groaned. "For now."

"Ditto," Gazzy piped in. Jab suddenly looked over at Nudge and Max with raised eyebrows. She nodded for some reason after a couple seconds. I let it go, though, even though curiousity was still eating me alive.

"I think we'll go get dressed," Jab said sneakily. Nudge, Max, and Jab shot up and full out sprinted to their separate rooms. My eyes narrowed suspiciously as I went after Jab into our room. When I got there, the bathroom door was already shut and the shower was on. I tried to open the door, but it was locked and there was no way to pick it from the outside.

"Damn," I whispered to myself, jiggling the doorknob.

"Everbody all for one, this summer has just begun. Let's rock and roll and just let go, feel the rhythm of the drums. We're gonna have fun in the sun now that all the hard work, work is done," I heard Jab singing in the shower, like she hadn't heard me, which I know she had.

"Let me in," I said.

"Let me think about that. No," she said like a little kid. I sighed and sat on the bed to wait, impatiently, I must add. She took a long shower, probably because the last bath she had was in beach water. I was laying back with my eyes closed when she came back out. I looked up at her and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. She was wearing a short little blue plaid school girl skirt that went to her upper thigh and a white spaghetti strap that was really high cut at the hem.

"Like it?" she asked, turning to give me a full look.

"I-I-I," I stampered, not being able to make up a good sentence. I nodded. Her smile widened.

"I saw it at Hot Topic and just had to get it," she said, plopping down on my lap. "Close your mouth, honey. You'll swallow a fly." She put a finger under my chin and closed my mouth. I blushed. Once I recovered from my embarrassment, I grabbed her hands and pushed her down on the bed, crashing my lips on hers and pinning her hands down. I felt her smile against my lips and kiss me back. I was over her, trying not to put too much weight on her.

"Not... today," she said, her words muffled and slurred against my lips. I pulled back and sighed, knowing she was right.

"You're right. It's too soon," I said, getting off her. She got up after me and smiled.

"But we will," she said, kissing my cheek. I smiled and hugged her and kissed her cheek. I got up, got my clothes from my bag and got in the shower. The door opened and I peeked my head out of the shower to see Jab doing her makeup.

"Um, yeah, hi," I said awkwardly. Why I was feeling awkward is unknown to me.

"Hey," she said nonchalantly as she put on some eye shadow, as If I wasn't a few feet away from her and completely naked. The again, we were naked together in the ocean yesterday. I rolled my eyes at her and went back into the shower. When I came out, she was gone. I got dried and dressed and went back out to our room. She was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed. She smiled.

"Hey, handsome," she said, standing up and wrapping her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist. I could slightly feel her wings tucked against her spine through the shirt. "Don't you ever comb your hair?" She ruffled my hair.

"Sometimes," I said. "It's not as nessesary as it is with girls. Not as much hair." She rolled her eyes and let go of me, but grabbed one hand.

"Come on," she said, pulling me out to the living room. We plopped down on the couch, her on my lap, and waited for the others. Max, Fang, and Nudge were the first to come out. Max and Nudge were wearing much the same thing as Jab, only Max's was purple and Nudge's was pink. Fang was staring wide-eyed at them, Max in partictular, with his jaw on the floor. I chuckled to myself. When Angel and Gazzy came out, Gazzy was staring at Nudge. Am I the only one that's thinking about the somg "crushcrushcrush" by Paramore?

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Max asked when they sat down.

"Me and Iggy were talking this morning. You wanna go to the FAO Schwarz, the huge toy store in New York. You guys have heard of it, right?" Jab asked. Max nodded.

"I have. That would be fun. Do you guys want to go to the most fabulous toy store in the world? We'd have to put off looking for the Institute for a bit," Max asked the flock.

"Yes!" Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel yelled.

"Why not?" Fang said, shrugged.

"Buzz kill," Jab accused him. We left out and were greeted by stares. When we were walking down the street, a guys swatted Jab's butt. She yelped. I felt my temper rising, but I managed not to go after the guy. Jab's finger nails dug into my hand. I looked at her to see the look of pure anger on her face.

"Just keep walking, Jab," I whispered to her. She took deep, calming breaths and kept walking. A few guys swatted Max and Jab, causing me and Fang to have to put a strong lock-down on our tempers. We arived at the store. It was _huge_! It was glass fronted with a giant teddy bear holding 3 big letter blocks that read FAO. I swear, I died and went to heaven when I thought about how many toys must have been in there. There was a guy dressed as a nutcracker general or something at the front door.

"Welcome to FAO," he said with a smile. He opened the door. We froze when we got a look at the inside. There were toys _everywhere_! Our silence was interupted by high-piched, excited girl screams coming from Max, Jab, Angel, and Nudge. They ran in and practically assulted the stuffed animals they had on racks.

"Jab! Jab! I want this one!" Angel exclaimed, jumping up and down. She was hugging a teddy bear with a white gown, white wings, like hers, and a gold iron halo.

"Let me see it," Jab said. Angel handed it over with much reluctancy and Jab looked at the price tag. "Fouty-five dollars. Not too much." She handed back to a very excited Angel.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she chanted. "I'm going to name her Celeste."

"That's a nice name." She turned back to the racks and racks of stuffed animals. She was tearing through them, saying things like, "This one's too big," or "This one gives me the creeps." I laughed at her pickiness when it came to stuffed animals. She finally settled with a sandy brown wolf.

"Hmm, what should I name you?" she asked it. "Ooo, I know. Seth." I chuckled at her Twilight reference. **(Note that this takes place in 2010, since that's easier for me to work with than it being 2005, like in the books. So there are already 3 Twilight movies out, the first two being on DVD, and all the books are out, including _The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner_.)**

"Cute," I said an kissed her cheek. She looked around. Then she ran off in the opposite direction. I followed her and followed her gaze. She was running toward a _huge _ball pit. I picked up the pace and we did a canonball into the colorful balls of blue, red, yellow, green , and orange. When we came up, we were laughig hysterically. She jumped on my back, sending me down into the deep balls. I flipped over so I was facing her when we resurfaced.

"That was mean," I scolded playfully, grinning. She laughed and swam down. I went after her and grabbed her around the waist. She struggled and just nearly got free, but I kept my grip on her waist. She turned around and wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. Surprised, my grip faltered and she was able to get free. She swam away fast.

"Don't let your guard down," she called over her shoulder. I laughed and went back after her. We ended up at the surface. There were a few people there, a woman and two little kids, one boy and one girl.

"Excuse me, but can you watch my kids while they're in the ball pit?" the woman asked. She was maybe 30 years old with dark brown hair that was pulled back into a pony tail and warm brown eyes. Jab nodded. I did, too. Did I really have much of a choice? "Thanks. Shelby, Josh, be nice." The kids nodded and climbed into the pit. We kept a close eye on them. They jumped on Jab and she went under. She laughed and put an arm around each of them, bringing them down with her. They squealed at their plan backfiring. I laughed as the kids and Jab went back and forth taking each other down. They eventually called a truce and went over to the side to rest.

"What's your name?" the girl, Shelby, asked.

"Jab," she said. "And he's Iggy." She pointed to me.

"Those are funny names," the boy, Josh, said. Shelby elbowed him. They both looked like their mom. Brown hair and eyes.

"That's rude!" she scoled. Jab laughed.

"No, no, that's cool. Hey, can you keep a secret?" she asked. They nodded and edged in closer. What was she up to? "I'm not human." They gasped. Oh, no.

"Then what are you?" Josh asked.

"I'm a bird," she said.

"Jab! What are you doing?" I asked. Why the hell was she telling someone, let alone two little kids?

"They're kids. No one would beleive them if they told anyone," she whispered back. "No harm done."

"Do you have wings?" Shelby asked.

"Yup. Black ones," she said.

"Wow. Were you raised in a nest?" Josh asked, bewildered.

"No, I was raised in a lab with crazy pschycotic scientists," she said like it was a scary story you tell around a camp fire. Pff, as if.

"Woe. Were you a bird when you were born?" Shelby asked.

"Yeah. When I was in m mommy's belly, they did something to me. I came out with wings," she said.

"Is Iggy a bird, too?" Josh asked.

"Yeah. His wings are white, like an angel," she said. I smiled at the analogy. "My family are also all birds. Fang is my twin brother. Max is our leader. Angel can read minds. So can I. Gazzy is Angels brother. He farts a lot. Nudge is very talkative. When she starts, she can't stop. We're on the run from the crazy scientists. Now, don't tell anyone this story. They'll hurt us if you do."

"Who?" Josh asked.

"Evil half boy, half wolves. Erasers," she said.

"Ahhh! I'll never use my eraser again!" Josh said. Jab laughed.

"No, they look like people, well, really pretty people with thick hair and kind of doggy looking teeth, but when the go wolf, they have hair everywhere and dog mouths and claws. Stay away from them. They're mean," she warned. They nodded.

"We'll keep your secret safe," Shelby vowed. "Right, Josh?" He nodded.

"Right," he said. They zipped their lips shut.

"Thanks," Jab said. "Wanna see my wings?" They nodded crazily. She laughed and went under. They followed. There was rustling in the balls as Jab took off her black jacket and unfurled her wings under the balls. I went under next to her, fearing that the kids might freak out and go tell someone. You know, the worse case scenerio. The kids were touching her wings gingerly.

"Wow," they said in unison.

"They're real soft," Shelby commented. "Like silk."

"They're huge," Josh exclaimed. Jab laughed.

"If you think they're big, you should see Iggy's. They're the biggest in our flock," she said.

"I wanna see," Shelby said.

"Please, Iggy?" Jab pleaded. I sighed and took my jacket off, unfolding my wings.

"Woe, they're ginormous," Josh said.

"You guys can actually fly with those?" Shelby asked.

"Yup," we said.

"That's so cool," she said. I looked at my wings. They were brushing against Jab's. I never noticed how ying-yang-ish we looked. Her black wings, my white ones, her black hair, my blond hair, her black-ish brow eyes and my blue ones. We looked completely different. Yet we fit together perfectly. Her hair no longer had pink in it, due to it being a couple months before she left the School that she redid them, plus the past events and fighting, so it was now pitch black.

"Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?" Shelby asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Jab said. "For a couple days." I seriously couldn't beleive how short of a time we've known each other. It felt like a life time.

"You're cute together," she said. I smiled.

"Thank you," I said.

"Shelby, Josh, come on," their mom called. We quickly refolded our wings, put our jackets back on, and went up. She was standing at the edge of the pit. "Thanks for looking after them," We nodded.

"They were a riot," Jab assured. "In a good way."

"Well, come on," she said to her kids as they climbed out. We got out, too.

"Can we say something to them first?" Shelby asked. Their mom nodded and walked a few feet away to give us privacy.

"Will we ever see you guys again?" Josh asked.

"I don't know," Jab said. "But we might."

"If we do, can you take us flying?" Josh asked hopefully.

"Maybe," she said. "Remember to keep the secret secret." She winked. They smiled and nodded.

"We will," they reassured.

"Well, until we meet again, this is goodbye. You're great," Jab said.

"Bye Jab. Bye Iggy," Shelby farewelled.

"Bye, Shelby, Bye Josh," I said. They gave us each a hug and ran off to join their mom. They looked back at us when they started walking away. We waved and they waved back.

"I'm gonna miss them," Jab said.

"Yeah. They were really nice," I agreed. I put my arm around he waist and we walked off. We stopped at the elavator and pushed the button. When its doors opened, there were a lot of people in it. We both paled at the thought of getting into a tight spot and shook our heads. The doors closed and we waited again. When it came back, there was no one on it. We sighed in releif and got on. We still didn't like elavators, but when they were crowded, we wanted no part in it. The same goes for the rest on the flock. We all just hate close spaces, due to being in little dog crates most of our lives. We looked at the buttons. There was one that said "Cafe" on it.

"Hungry?" I asked her. She nodded and I pushed the button. We went up and when the doors opened, I swear, I died. It was a cafe. A candy cafe! There was candy _everywhere_! A table piled with candy, lolipops of varying sized, from Dum-Dums to ones the size of my head, gummy everythings, and soooo much more. I felt like I'd just stepped into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. We looked at each other and ran for the nearest candy. We grabbed bags and started filing them with all sorts of candy. I got about 5 giant lolipops and then 5 full bags of candy, 1 bag of jelly beans, 2 bags of gummy bears, worms, fish, and any other animal you can think of, and a couple gawbreakers. When we bought our candy, we sat down to rest. Jab stared eating her candy, but I was saving mine. About ten minutes later, I saw Nudge at another table eating just as crazily as Jab. That was _not _good. I got up and went over to her table.

"Oh. hey, Iggy! How's it going?" she yelled fastly at me. "Yeah, can you believe this place? It's awesome! There's a chocolate fountain, and jelly beans of colors I've never seen before, and a soda water fall, and mountains and mountains of candy! It's heaven!" She hadn't even taken one breath. "Want some?" She pointed to her candy. "No? Suit yourself." I hadn't even answered.

"Nudge, you're too hyper. Come on. Eat this another time," I said. I started to pull her up, put she shook me off.

"No! I wanna stay! Don't make me leave the toy store yet! I haven't gotten anything except the candy and a stuffed gorilla!" she whined.

"I'm not making you leave the store, just the cafe," I reassured her. She shook her head.

"No! This is my dojo!" she yelled at me. I rolled my eyes and went back to mine and Jab's table. She had eaten a lot, but there was hardly even a dent in her pile of candy.

"Hey, Iggy! How's it? Where'd you go? I missed you! You haven't even eaten any of your candy. Are you sick? Do you need me to heal you? Oh, my God, are you going to die? Don't die, Iggy!" she cried, all of her words rushed and smooshed together. Holy crap. She's as hyped up as Nudge. I sighed.

"I'm not going to die, Jab," I said. She sighed in releif.

"Oh, good. Then why aren't you eating?" she asked.

"I'm saving them for later," I said.

"You think you'll get fat, don't you?" She gasped. "You think I'll get fat! How mean! Am I already fat? You think I'm fat!"

"No, no, no! You're not fat! You're skinny. You always were!" I said.

"Oh, thank you," she said. I sighed.

"Come on," I said, putting her stuff in her bag, which was on the back of the chair. She glared at me.

"Why are you putting that away?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"We're going somewhere else," I said. She shook her head.

"No! Why do we have to leave the store? I'm having fun!" she whined. God, de ja vu. I'd just gone through this with Nudge.

"We're not leaving the store, Jab. We're just leaving the cafe," I reasured.

"Nu-uh," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. I sighed and picked her up.

"Hey! Put me down!" she yelled at me, shoving against my chest. I rolled my eyes and kissed her. She relaxed and kissed me back. She pulled back and smiled at me.

"Sorry, babe," she apologized, sobered up a bit. "Too much candy makes me coo-coo."

"Yeah, seriously," I said, putting her down.

"Yo, Nudge," she called. "We'll see you later." Nudge nodded and looked back down at her piles of candy.

"She'll go to sleep easy tonight," I said.

"Yup. She'll be too sleepy from jumping around hyper as a bunny on crack," she agreed as we went into the elavator. She jumped on my back, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I laughed.

"You're still hyper," I analyzed, linking my arms through her legs.

"Maybe a little," she giggled. I rolled my eyes and she leaned over my shoulder to push an elevator button. It was a button that said "Legos".

"They have a Lego room?" I asked.

"Yup. Like I said, they have every toy in existence," she said.

"I love this place," I said. The doors opened to reveal a huge room that was about the size of a baseball field. There were lego sculptures everywhere. Harry Potter, Chewbacca, Spongebob. They even had the Golden Gate bridge. I ran, causing Jab to jump up and down on my back.

"I-i-i-igg-y-y-y-y-y!" she managed to get out between each jump. I slowed down.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Jeeze. I just nearly lost all of my candy, if you catch my drift," she said, laying her head on my shoulder. I laughed and looked around. I found an area where you could build stuff and went over there. Jab hopped down and stared building something. I did the same. She was on the opposite side of the area of me, so I couldn't see what she was making. I made random stuff, fish, cats, bombs, anything to pass the time. A little girl sat next to me.

"Hey, Iggy," she said. It was Shelby.

"Hey, Shelby. Where's Josh?" I asked.

"With Jab," She nodded to where Jab was. She looked down at my sculptures. "Whatcha building?"

"I don't know. Random stuff." I shrugged.

"How about you maaaake... a crown?" she suggested. I nodded and started to build it. It was pretty easy. When I finished, I placed it on her head and biwed formally.

"Queen Shelby," I said. She smiled.

"Thanks, Iggy," she said, straightening the crown.

"How old are you guys, anyways?" I asked as she started to put random blocks together.

"I'm 10 and Josh is 7," she said.

"You guys are big for your ages," I said.

"Big as in tall or big as in fat?" she asked. _What's with girls and thinking they're fat? _I thought.

"Jeeze, I just went through this with Jab. Tall, not fat," I said. She laughed.

"But Jab isn't that tall," she pointed out.

"No, she was hyper and thought I thought she was fat, which I don't," I explained.

"How'd she- The candy cafe?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yup," I said. We started building stuff, her mostly making blocks of Legos and buildings and simple shapes. I helped her build some stuff, like a 3-D heart and a robot. I looked back at Jab. My mouth hit the floor in shock and amazement. She and Josh were building the Empire State Building! It was really tall, taller than Jab, and she had to use boxes as stepstools. She would lift Josh up to put a block on the place she told him to. I looked at Shelby. She was staring, wide-eyed, at the sculpure. I think we had the same idea, because we got up and went over to the forming mob around them. Jab looked at me and gave a cocky smirk.

"Like it?" she asked. I nodded.

"How'd you do this?" I asked, still gaping at the building.

"I've memorized what every monument looks like from top to bottom at school," she said with a shrug as she turned back to her work. I knew she meant the School, but the people around us could go without knowing that. She was at the pointy part at the top when she couldn't find anymore boxes. I got an idea and smiled as I went up behind her and lifted her up so she could reach it and put the last dozen blocks up, Josh handing me the block and then me handing them to Jab. When she put the final block on the top, I set her down and she stepped back to admire her work. It was amazing looking, like the real thing. There was a round of applause from the group that had surounded it. A guy in his late 40s or early 50s with a bald cap and grey hair on the sides came up to her. He didn't look like an Eraser. They usually looked like supermodels in their twenties when they weren't morphed.

"Ma'am, this sculpure is amazing!" he complimented.

"Aww, you make me blush," Jab laughed.

"But, seriously, it's a work of art. I'm the manager for FAO Schwarz. I'd like to display your sculpture here, in FAO Schwarz. With your permition, of course. We're prepared to give you $200," he dealed. I looked at Jab. She was lookin at the man intently, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"To here," she finished for him. He seemed startled that she had found his unspoken loophole, but nodded anyways. "Well, there's a lot I could get here for $200, so deal." He grinned.

"Okay, well, here you are." He took out a shiny card that said "FAO" in the middle and "$200" on the left top and right bottom corners. Jab took it and stuffed it in her pocket, knocking out her credit card. The man's eyes got wide when he saw it as I bent down to get it. "We're... important people," Jab said slyly, looking up casually. I chuckled a little. _Yup, about as important as avain-human birdkids can be, _I thought. He looked suspitious, but walked away with a nod, probably to get someone to glue the Lego Empire State Building blocks in place and move it somewhere. We left the sculpture where it was and went off to look for the flock. We found Gazzy a couple floors down in the airplane room. It had models hung all over the place, like they were flying. As if. The Gasman wanted a small, red, buggy looking remote control helicopter. It was small enough to fit in his bag, so we agreed. We went off to find everyone else. We thought we might find Angel or Nudge in the Barbie room. We found both of them, plus Fang in there. Fang looked ridiculous. Jab fell to the floor laughing with tears streaming down her cheeks when she saw him. He had glittery pink lipgloss on unevenly, going off his lips in a couple places, glittery eyeshadow that looked a little too thick to be eyeshadow, and his long hair was braided with bows holding it like that at the bottom. I laughed, too, just barely keeping myself unright. Just barely. He grimaced.

"That bad?" he asked.

"Ya think?" Jab laughed. "What happened?"

"Little 6 year old girls is what happened. One girl came up to me and asked it she could do my hair. I said yes. Next thing I know, there are 3 more of them slathering my in Lord knows what."

"Wait, that doesn't look like eye shadow," Jab examined, getting up and touching the glitter on Fang's eye lids. "Um, they put lipgloss on your eyes." I couldn't stand it anymore, literally. I fell to the floor laughing with tears running down my cheeks. Fang glared at me.

"Just help me get this stuff off," he said to Jab. She nodded and took him into a family bathroom. You know, the kind where moms usually took their potty training sons to help him keep his thing in the toilet or that dads help their daughters onto the toilet in, the kind that boy and girls can go in.

"Anyone know where Max is?" Gazzy asked.

"I last saw her in the movie room," Nudge said. "Watching _Finding Nemo_."

"So, when they get out, to the movie room," I proclaimed. Right on cue, Jab and Fang came out of the bathroom. We headed down to the movie room. and went in. Looking around in the darkness, we spotted Max in the front row. We all took our seats, some of us separated from the others. I sat next to Jab in the 4th row. She laid her head on my shoulder. _Nanny McPhee _was on. When Nanny McPhee left at the end and turned beautiful, Jab started crying a little, just a few happy tears streaming down her cheeks. I kissed the top of her head and wiped away the tears. The lights came back on and we stood up. We spotted Max, so we followed her.

"Hey, Max," I said. She turned around.

"Oh, hey, guys. Is the rest of the flock here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jab said. "We just have to wait for them." We stood to the side and soon enough, Gazzy, Fang, Nudge, and Angel joined us. We went to buy Jab, Nudge, Angel, and-I'm not kidding-Max's stuffed animals, Gazzy's helicopter, and _Mama Mia! _which Angel picked out.

"Hey, Gazzy, Angel picked out that movie for you, ya know," Jab told Gazzy. Angel and her had the most evil grins on their faces.

"Why would it be for me?" he asked, confused.

"Let's recap on his thoughts while we were flying to New York, shal we?" Jab asked Angel. Angel nodded.

"We shal," Angel said.

"Mama Mia! Here I go again! My, my, how can I resist you? Mama mia! Does it show again? My, my, just how much I've missed you?" they sung. I laughed.

"Oh," was all Gazzy said as he turned brigh red in embarrassment. Jab patted him on the back soothingly.

"It's no big deal. Plenty of guys like Mama Mia," she said. We bought the stuff and left. We decided to go on an expadition through New York for a little while. We headed to Centural Park and took a walk. We were on high alert, though. Erasers could be anywhere. There was a stage in a little spot there.

"Okay, who's next for karaoke?" a guy said into a mic. Jab jumped at it.

"I am!" she said over the crowd. Eyes turned to her as she walked on stage and a few people cat whistled. Jab looked through the songs and picked one. She turned back toward the crowd and waited for the song to start. It turned out to be "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae.

"Three little birds sat on my window,  
And they told me I don't need to worry,  
Summer came like cinnamon,  
So sweet,  
Little girls double-dutch on the concrete.

"Maybe sometimes we got it wrong,  
But it's aright.  
The more things seem to change,  
The more they stay the same.  
Oh, don't you hesitate.

"Girl, put your records on,  
Tell me your favorite song.  
You go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
Sapphire and faded jeans,  
I hope you get your dreams.  
Just go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
You're gonna find yourself somewhere,  
Somehow.

"Blue as the sky,  
Sunburnt and lonely,  
Sippin' tea at a bar by the roadside.  
Don't you let those other boys fool you.  
Gotta love that afro hair do.

"Maybe sometimes we feel afraid,  
But it's alright.  
The more you stay the same,  
The more they seem to change.  
Don't you thing it's strange?

"Girl, put your records on,  
Tell me your favorite song.  
You go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
Sapphire and faded jeans,  
I hope you get your dreams.  
Just go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
You're gonna find yourself somewhere,  
Somehow.

"'Twas all that I could take,  
Pity for Pity's sake,  
Some nights kept me awake,  
I thought that I was stronger.  
When you gonna realize,  
That you don't even have to try any longer?  
Do what you want to.

"Girl, put your records on,  
Tell me your favorite song.  
You go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
Sapphire and faded jeans,  
I hope you get your dreams.  
Just go ahead,  
Let your hair down.

"Girl, put your records on,  
Tell me your favorite song.  
You go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
Sapphire and faded jeans,  
I hope you get your dreams.  
Just go ahead,  
Let your hair down.  
Oh, you're gonna find yourself somewhere,  
Somehow."

When she finished, the crowd of people cheered like crazy.

"Encore! Encore! Encore!" I started chanting, punping my fist in the air. The flock joined me and then the entire audience.

"Jeeze, was I that good?" she asked. Everyone shouted "YES!" "Okay, um, what song should I sing?"

"'Something About the Sunshine' by Anna Margaret," some random voice said. Someone startd the music.

"Wake up to the blue sky,  
Grab your shdes and let's go for a ride.  
Breakfast by the ocean.  
We'll do lunch at Sunset & Vine.

"Everyday's a dream in New York Ci-ty.  
Every night the stars come out to play.  
Wish that I could always feel this way."

I laughed at her remix. She was converting it to fit New York.

"There's something about the sunshine, baby.  
I'm seeing you in a whole new light.  
Out of this world for the first time, baby.  
Oh, it's so right.  
There's something about the sunshine.  
There's something about the sun sh-sh-sh-shine

"In Madie Square, we're rockin',  
In the mall we hang out in chill.  
It's all about the shopping,  
From Chanel to Aeropostale.

"Everywhere's a scene and now we're in it.  
I don't wanna paint this town alone.  
When I see you smile, I always feel at home.

"There's something about the sunshine, baby.  
I'm seeing you with a whole new light.  
N. Y.'s a breeze with the pine trees swaying.  
Oh, it's so right.

"Now that you're here (now that you're here),  
It's suddenly clear (suddenly clear),  
The sun's coming through,  
I never knew,  
Whatever I do,  
It's better with you.  
It's better with you.

"There's something about the sunshine, baby.  
I'm seeing you in a whole new light.  
Out of this world for the first time, baby.  
Oh, it's so right.

"There's something about the sunshine, baby.  
I'm seeing you in a whole new light.  
Out of this world for the first time, baby.  
Oh, it's so right.

"There's something about the sunshine. baby.  
I'm seeing you with a whole new light.  
N. Y.'s a breeze with the pine trees swaying.  
Oh, it's so right."

The music faded out and Jab bowed as we cheered again. She started walking offstage, but I pushed her back up it.

"Oh, no you don't." I shoved her back up the stairs and in front of the mic. She was looking helplessly at the crowd with raised eyebrows, causing them to laugh.

"Then how about you sing with me?" she said. She didn't give me a chance to protest. "Overboard by Justin Beiber and Jessica Jarrell," she called. The beginning music came on. Jab started

"It feels like we've been out at sea.  
So back and forth, that's how it seems.  
Whoa, and when I wanna talk you say to me,  
That 'If it's ment to be, it will be.'

"Ohhhh,

"So crazy in this thing we call love.  
The love that we got that we just can't give up  
I'm reaching out for you.  
Got me out here in the water and I."

We sang the chours together.

"I'm overboard,  
And I need your love.  
Pull me up,  
I can't swim on my own.  
It's too much.  
Fells lik I'm drowning without your love.  
So throw yourself out to me,  
My life saver  
My life saver."

Then it was my solo.

"Never understood you when you say,  
Wanting me to meet you halfway.  
Felt like I was doing my part.  
Get bringing,  
You're coming up short.  
It' funny how these things change,  
'Cause now I see.

"So crazy in this thing we call love.  
The love that we got that we just can't give up  
I'm reaching out for ya.  
Got me out here in the water and I."

I sang most of the chours, Jab doing the echos.

"I'm overboard (overboard),  
And I need your love.  
Pull me up (Pull me up),  
I can't swim on my own.  
It's too much (It's too much),  
Feels like I'm drowning without your love.  
So throw yourself out to me,  
My life saver."

We both sung the next part.

"Oh, it's supposed to be some give and take, I know.  
But you're only taking and not giving anymore.  
So what will I do?  
'Cause I still love you,  
And you're the only one who can save me.

"Whoa,  
Whoa,  
Whoa."

We sung the final chours together.

"I'm overboard (overboard),  
And I need your love.  
Pull me up (Pull me up),  
I can't swim on my own.  
It's too much (It's too much),  
Fells lik I'm drowning without your love.  
So throw yourself out to me (Can't swim),  
My life saver.  
Life save, oh, life saver.  
My life saver (It's crazy, crazy, crazy, yeah).  
Life saver, oh, life saver.  
Oh, life saver,  
Oh, life saver.  
My life saver.  
Oh, life saver,  
Oh, life saver.  
Yeah."

We breathed out sighs of releif when we finished. So many 'life savers' in the song. But I had fun. The cheers were even louder than the last two times.

"Okay, we're done," Jab told the crowd, taking my hand and leading me off stage, followed by whines of disappointment. The flock was at the bottom of the steps.

"Iggy, since when do you sing?" Max asked.

"I sing in the shower," I said sarcastically. "Actually, I had no idea I could sing, either. Never really tried to sing."

"Well, you were great," Nudge said. A guy jumped in front of us suddenly. We jumped and Jab automatically swung out and punched him, parinoia getting the better of her. He fell to the ground. It was a human.

"Oops, sorry. You scared me," she apologized, helping him up.

"No problem. Nice punch, though," he said, rubbing his cheek, which was now starting to swell and turn purpleish red. "I probably shouldn't have jumped you like that."

"Ya think?" she laughed.

"I'm Jacob Harris. My new hair salon is having a makeover day where every makeover is free. But you have to let your stylist do whatever they want to you," he explained.

"That sounds cool, but I have one restriction," Jab said. "No cutting my curls. I'm trying to grow it out, even though the bangs are an exception. They can do anything else, but don't cut my curls." Jacob nodded.

"I think we can make an exception, since you do have a luxurious head of hair," he said.

"Anyone else want a makeover?" Jab asked us. We all nodded. If we got makeovers, it would be harder for the Erasers to recognise us.

"Right this way." He led us over to a hair salon. He sat us down and told Jab's stylist her special request. She nodded. We first had to get our hair combed through so that there would be no knots in the way. God, now I wish I had brushed my hair this morning. My stylist hit so many knots. Then we were taken to the back where they washed our hair. When that was done, they brought us back to the front and stared their work, first cutting, and then dying. They let it sit for a while. I laid back and closed my eyes. When he came back out, he took the tin foil off of ends of my hair and then spiked it. When he turned me to the mirror, I loked it. My strawberry blond hair was spiked in all directions and the pointed tips were black. Very retro. It kind of looked like I stuck my finder in a light socket. I loved it.

"Awesome," I said. He took the smoch off of me and I got up to stand against the wall. Gazzy joined me. His hair was bleached white in some spots and was spiked in different directions, like mine, and the tips were bright blue. The sides were buzz-cut.

"Nice," I said.

"I know. These people are amazing," he said. Max was next. Her blond hair was in a bob that was in light, feathery layers and there were thick stripes of bright pink in it. Angel came up next to her. Her hair was cut to shoulder length and was in a curling frenzy. It was cute. Nudge joined is. Her usually uber-curly hair was straightened and had blond streakes. Jab was next. Her hair was straight with almost white blond streaks running through it and eyebrow-grazing feather bangs. Fang was last. His hair was simply cropped short, with a long chunk that flopped over his eyes.

"Did you donate enough hair to make a wig?" Jab joked.

"Shut up. This feels lighter, better than before. Reisae ot ylf ni," he said. When we didn't want to be understood, we said our words backwards. What he had really said was 'Easier to fly in.'

"Whatever," she said. Jacob turned to us.

"You all look great. Ear peircings are only $2 for both ears and $1 for one ear," he offered.

"Max, can I pleeeeeaaaase get my ear peirced?" Gazzy begged.

"Me, too," Jab said.

"Me three," I said.

"Jab and Iggy, yes. Gazzy, no," she said. Me and Jab ran to the back. Ear peircing hurt like hell! Who knew putting a hole throuh your earlobe would hurt? I got one and Jab got both. The guy gave us instructions on how to take care of them and to wear earrings often or else they'll close up. We nodded and went to join the rest of the flock. My ear stung, but I ignored it. We left, saying our thank yous and went to a jewelry store to get us some earrings. Jab chose silver hoop earrings and I got a small gold wire hoop. I winced when I put it in. Jab didn't.

"How can you not feel pain when you put the earring in when we just got them done?" I asked.

"I've had my ears peirced before, but they closed up. I do feel the pain, but I don't show it," she explained. I nodded and we headed out. I got the worse realization.

"Wait, if that thing's charged to the School, couldn't they track us down?" I asked. She shook her head no.

"It may charge to the School, but it's my account. Not even Cam knew the password to access it," she said.

"What's the password?" I asked.

"You'll never know," she said slyly. I rolled my eyes. As we walked by a tattoo parlor, Jab stopped.

"What's up?" I asked. She smiled and got out a peice of paper and a pen from her bag. She started writing on it.

"Who wants a tat, other than Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge?" she asked.

"Ooo, I want one," I said.

"Ditto," Max said.

"Why not?" Fang shrugged.

"Again, I say: Buzz. Kill," Jab said. I laughed. Jab started writing the note. When she finished, she handed it to Max. We all read it over Max's shoulder. It was actually really convincing.

"Please allow my fourteen (14) year old children, Max, Jabrielle, Iggy, and Fang, get any tattoo(s) they please. Jabrielle has my credit card and will be signing for it. Thankfully, Jeb Blatchelder," Max read aloud. "Wow, this is amazing forgery."

"You have no idea how many times I've had to practice writing in Jeb's handwriting to finally get it down right." She sighed. "A month."

"Maaaan! Why can't I get a tattoo?" Gazzy whined.

"Because you're 8," I said.

"Like that's a reason?" he grumbled.

"Yes, because you can't even get a tattoo if you had a note," I pointed out.

"Plus, I wouldn't let you," Max added. He slumped and we went inside. The big, beefy guy with the bandana that probably hid his bald head, and the tattoos going down his arms looked up.

"Can I help you?" he boomed coldly. I clutched Jab's hand in case he tried anything.

"We're here to get tattoos, no friggin' duh," Jab said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which, really, it was. The guy's face got red with anger.

"Go skip back to Chuck E Cheese, little girl," he sneered.

"Yeah, I don't think I will," she said, holding out the note. He snatched it and read it. He huffed.

"How do I know this is really lagit?" he said, crossing his arms.

"It _is_ lagit. No more questions," Jab said coldly.

"I'm not- what the fuck?" he yelled. I looked at Jab. Her eyes were now red and her hand was consumed in blue elctricity.

"Whoa! What in the world?" I yelled frantically.

"What?" Jab asked, raising an eyebrow and looking up at me. Her eyes was brown again and her hand wasn't blue anymore.

"What the? Your hand was completely covered in blue electricity," I said. I picked up her other hand. It looked perfectly normal, covered in pale, smooth skin, no burns or peeling, or blisters. "That's weird."

"Ylbaborp a edis tceffe fo em dna Sgnaf ytiliba," she suggested as an explaination. She meant "Probably a side effect of me and Fang's ability". "Ebyam." **(A/N: If you have a hard time figuring out what the untranslated words are, read it in a mirror.)**

"I don't know, but you nearly gave me a heart attack," I said.

"Sorry," she said.

"Wh-Which one of you is Jabrielle, Fang, Iggy, and Max?" the guy asked shakily. He was deathly pale.

"I'm Jabrielle," Jab said.

"Iggy," I said.

"Fang," Fang said.

"And Max," Max finished.

"Go to the back through that curtain." He pointed to a purple velvet curtain. "The kids can come with."

"Thanks," Jab said innocently. We went to the back. There were a dozen reclining chairs set up back there. They were deep blue leather and in good shape. We looked around for the tattoo artists. They were nowhere in sight.

"Anyone back here?" Max called. Some people, girls and guys, came in from behind a door, all having at least one tattoo. They spotted us and one went up front through the curtain, where the big guy had been.

"Why are there 7 kids back there?" I could hear the guy ask Bandana Man.

"The tallest guy, the two with the black hair, and the oldest blond girl are getting tattoos. Do whatever the black-haired girl says. She's weird," he said. Jab giggled from beside me as she listened through my head. The guy came back here and cast a cautious look at Jab.

"What? Never seen a short fourteen-year-old?" she asked smartly, one hand on her hip. He looked away.

"So, um, you four want tattoos?" he asked nervously, peeking over at me, Fang, Jab, and Max.

"Yurp," Max said. "Just us four. Whatever he," she gestured to Gazzy, "says, do _not_ give him a tattoo."

"Understood," he said. "Well, if you'll have a seat, we can get started." We sat down, me next to Jab, Fang next to her, and Max next to him. Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge sat on an extra one.

"Um, we can give them Henna, temporary tattoos," a woman suggested. "The paint stains the skin and fades in a week or so."

"Um, sure," Max said reluctantly. "But nothing big."

"Yes!" Gazzy punched the air.

"Okay, what do you want?" a man with dirty blond hair that went down to his shoulders and moss green eyes asked me. I thought for a second.

"Can you write Iggy on one wrist and Jab on the other in cursive?" I asked. He smiled.

"Yeah," he said and got his tools ready. "Anything else extra to it?" I thought.

"Yeah. A black feather over Jab and one outlined in black, no filler color."

"I'm going to guess that you're Iggy." I nodded. "Who's Jab?"

"The love of my life," I breathed.

"Which one?" he asked, looking at the others.

"Black hair," I described. He nodded.

"You're crazy for her," he said. I nodded. "Yeah, I remember my first love."

"What happened with her?" I asked.

"I married her." I smiled.

"Congrats. For how long?"

"3 years, going on 4," he said. He turned the needle on. "This is going to hurt." I braced myself. As soon as the needle connected with the inside of my wrist, I winced at the pain, but stayed in place.

"Iggy with two G's, right?" I nodded. "And Jab is J-A-B?" I nodded again. He continued his work. I was biting my lip the whole time. Jab, at one point, held my hand from the chair next to me until it was time for that wrist to be done. I looked down at the first wrist. It said "Jab" in elegant black cursive and had a black feather over it. I smiled. When he was done with my other wrist, I looked at it. It said "Iggy" with a black outline of a feather and a plain center. I loved them both. He put a bangage over them and gave me instructions on how to take care of them. He said it would take about 45 days to heal, which mean about four or five days for me, a week tops. I nodded my thanks and swung my legs over the edge to look at what Jab was getting. It was on the opposite side of her head, behind her ear, so I couldn't see it. She was biting her lip with her eyes closed. I stroked her face and kissed her cheek. She opened her eyes.

"This smit hurts," she said. I held her hand and her fingernails dug into my hand. I looked at her hand. On her wrist was a red rose vine going around it and on the top of her wrist in the middle was my name. I smiled.

"What are you getting over there?" I asked.

"'Fang'," she said. I nodded. "My two favorite men." I sat there and held her hand as she got her tattoo. It took a while. When it was finished, the woman that had been doing it showed it to her in the mirror. She grinned from ear-to-ear. She showed me. It said "Fang" in cursive with a ying-yang sign over it.

"Nice," I said. The woman told her the basic instructions to take care of them and bandaged them up. We went to sit with Fang on the last chair in the room.

"What'd you get?" Jab asked as she plopped down next to him.

"An eagle and your name," he said. She hugged him.

"Aww, thanks," she said. "I got your name, too."

"Thanks," he said and kissed the top of her head.

"What'd you get, Iggy? I never asked," Jab asked me.

"You name on one wrist with a black feather over it and my name on the other wrist with a plain feather over it." She smiled.

"Thanks." Max soon joined us.

"What'd ya get, what'd ya get, what'd ya get?" Jab asked.

"All of your initials," she said. "Going around my wrist."

"So, since the regular healing time is a maximum of 45 days, this should take about 4, a week at most," Jab said. Max nodded. Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy sat down on the chair in front of us. Nudge had gotten a heart on her ankle, Angel got, well, an angel on her arm, and Gazzy got a dark green grenade on his neck. We thanked the stylists and went back up front and paid for the tattoos. We went back out on the town. Jab jumped on my back. I chuckled and hooked my arms through her legs.

"Yes! I did it!" she cheered a couple minutes later out of the blue. And into my ear. I jumped.

"What, exactly, did you do?" I asked.

"I had a vision voluntarily," she said cheerfully. "And, you know, didn't get sucked out of my body."

"That's good. Can you tell when stuff happened, like date-wise?" Max asked.

"Nope. Only if it's night or day," she said. "Unless the vision just happens to take place somewhere with a calender."

"Well, it's still good," Fang said. "What did you just see?"

"I was just checking the weather. It's the least scariest thing I could think of," she said. "Sunny tomorrow."

"Good. Swimming sunny?" Nudge asked.

"Yeah. About 70 degrees at most and no clouds. But none of us have bathing suits," she said. "It's weird, though. The visions are so vivid. I can feel _everything_. The grass, the tempeture. But I can't touch people or things. My hand passes through them. Trust me, I tried."

"On who or what?" I asked.

"I tried popping Fang in the head. Went right through him," she said nonchalantly. I laughed. Fang rolled his eyes. "Just be happy it didn't work."

"Yeah, I don't want you hurting future me," he said sarcastically.

"What's next?" Nudge asked.

"Hmmm, the mall?" Jab asked. We all nodded and went to the nearest mall. The first place we went was the food court.

"Who wants what?" Jab asked, still on my back.

"Chick-fil-A," Nudge said.

"Chinese food," Gazzy said.

"Burger King," Max said.

"Burger King," Angel said.

"Chinese," Fang said.

"Chick-fil-A," I said.

"Chick-fil-A," Jab said. She hopped off my back and trotted to the ATM. She came back with a wad of cash. She gave Max and Fang half of the money each.

"Buy each of you something. Stay together. And if it's not enough, one of you come get me," she said. They nodded and took Gazzy and Angel to a Chinese place and Burger King. Jab looked a little paler than usual. It was probably from the close space we were in. We walked nervously through the crowd of people and to Chick-fil-A. We finally made it, thank God. Jab looked at the clerk, a teenager, about 16 or 17 years old. His eyes, you guessed it, went wide when he saw Jab and Nudge, who looked much older than 11. I rolled my eyes.

"Welcome to Chick-fil-A. Can I help you?" he asked.

"2 12 piece chicken nuggets for me and an iced tea. Large," Jab ordered.

"Same," Nudge agreed.

"2 chicken sandwiches, a large coke, and a fruit parfait," I said.

"Woe, that's a lot of food." _No shit, Sherlock, _I thought.

"Yeah, we have high metabolisms and big stomachs," Jab explained, which was the truth. The guy still looked shocked at our amount of food, but sent in the order. Jab handed over the card and signed the bill. We stepped aside to the place we were supposed to wait for the food. The sooner we got to a seat, the better. As soon as the food came, we half sprinted to the table we had started at. It was in a closed off space in the corner, no one around it. We sighed as we sat down. We dug into our food and the others joined us a couple minutes later. I could tell that Jab was checking the future every now and again, because her eyes would glaze over, but she'd still be eating, so I don't think anyone noticed, except for maybe Angel.

"Woo, that was good," Max said, sitting back and patting her ever flat stomach. "Did you see anything out of the usual, Jab?" Huh, so I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Nope," she said. "We're swimming tomorrow."

"Which means we're buying bathing suits," Nudge said cheerily.

"Yup. Lets get moving," Max said. We split into two groups, me, Jab, Fang, and Gazzy, and then Angel, Max and Nudge went through the mall looking for bathing suits. Jab would have gone with the other girls, but we needed Angel with one group and Jab with the other so they could communicate and tell us where to meet each other. Jab got a one peice dark green camouflage bathing suit with a halter neckline and a black sorang. I got white swim trunks with big Hawaiian flowers on it, Gazzy got shark designed trunks and Fang got black ones with red on the sides. Jab, being just like Nudge, just had to get some sort of accessories. She got big sunglasses with studs on the sides.

"Angel said to meet them at Justice," Jab said when we had got her sunglasses. We headed down there. They were just coming out.

"So, we're good to go?" Max asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Jab said, tying her Adidas. Her eyes glazed over for a second. Then she blinked a couple times and smiled. "Ooo, the nail salon is having a special."

"The nail salon? Max, can we pleeeeaaaase go?" Nudge begged. I could tell she was about to reject, but then she glaced at Nudge and Jab, who had came to stand next Nudge, and gave in instantly. They were teaming up and giving her puppy dog pouts.

"Okay, sure. Fang and Iggy can get some pedicures. They need 'em," Max said. Angel, Nudge, and Jab laughed.

"You don't have to sleep with those feet," Jab said.

"My feet aren't that bad," I protested.

"I was just joking, baby," Jab soothed sarcastically. "You have beautiful feet."

"I could like without the sarcasm," I said. She laughed and grabbed my hand. We seemed to blend in, minus the height factor. But, with how skinny we were, it wouldn't seem beyond normal. We were kind of huttled, trying to stay as close together as possible as to not lose anyone in the crowd of teenagers flooding the mall. We made our way quickly down to the nail salon. We were all linked together when we got there, me holding Jab's hand, Jab holding Fang's hand, Fang holding Angel's hand, Angel holding Max's hand, and Max holding Gazzy's hand, and Gazzy holding Nudge's hand. The mall was _the_ worst place to get lost.

"Good God we made it before I passed out," Nudge exclaimed. We laughed at her.

"Welcome," an Asian man said almost incoherently. He was obviously foreign.

"Nǐ hǎo," Jab said. "Wǒ hé wǒ de jiārén xīwàng dédào wǒmen de zhǐjiǎ zuò. Nàme, nǚhái, fǎnzhèng." The man chuckled a little. I have no idea what she said.

"What'd you say?" I asked her.

"Hello. Me and my family would like to get our nails done. Well, the girls, anyway," Max translated. I looked at her.

"How do you know?" I asked Max.

"Voice knows," she whispered so that only we could hear it. _Voice must have majored in foreign launguages, then, _I thought. The man nodded and signed us in. The girls went to the back and sat down where the man directed them to. I sat down in the waiting area, along with Fang and Gazzy. It took almost an hour for the girls to get their nails done. Why does it take so long to do nails? They finally came out blowing at their nails. Jab went to the front desk, paid and we left out. We got out of the mall, since the amout of people was putting our paranoia on edge. We went to the park again and started wandering. We separated, not getting to far from each other, though. I knew that Jab was walking on a path through the woods, though I'd offered to come with her, but she said she needed to be alone, Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy were at a playground, and Max and Fang were with them. I was in the garden, looking at all the bright colors of the flowers.

**Jab POV**

I walked along the path, trying to see if I could find any birds, small animals, ect. I had a horrible secret I hadn't been able to deal with for the last couple days. I heard the thumping of a small heart from a few feet away and, sure enough, there was a rodent there. I jumped at it, grabbing it by the tail and lifting it up to my mouth.

"Sorry," I whispered before sinking my teeth into it. The blood tasted so good. It squeaked and squealed for help that never came as I drank greedily until it was completely drained and hid it in a bush. I heard some rustling in the trees. I climbed up it with ease, thinking it was a bird or something. When I got there, what I saw made me freeze in irritation, shock, and fear. There were Erasers in the trees. _Not again, _I thought.

"Thought you'd be hunting out here," sneered a familiar voice. One that I thought I'd never hear again. Cam.

"Cam! But... you're dead." The end came out whispery

"Was. We have this weird way of being able to survive being torn to shreds. They sew me up nice and safe," he said. That voice was his, but at the same time it wasn't. It was colder, not my first love's voice. I whipped out my wings and used them to float down to the ground. They jumped after me and surounded me, more coming from behind trees. I felt my face go deathly pale.

"W-What do you want?" I stuttered out. I was scared silly.

"We have a... job for you to do," Ari, who was also there, said. I narrowed my eyes.

"What could you possibly want me to do?" I asked coldly.

"We have seen that you're highly trusted in the flock," a woman Eraser with brown hair and bloodshot red eyes, the whites a wolfy yellow said. "And we could use that to get to them."

"I'd never let you anywhere near them," I said, my voice cracking at the end.

"What are you going to do about it?" Ari asked. "There is only one of you and 10 of us."

"I won't let you," I repeated.

"A 5 foot tall 14-year-old mutant bird freak against 10 very tall, very powerful werewolves? Not fair for you, not is it?" a male with blond hair scoffed.

"What's this job you would need me to do?" I asked.

"Well, tomorrow, go to the beach at the tip of Manhattan. We'll take them back to the School, alive," Ari dealed. He didn't say unharmed. I knew he wouldn't.

"And if I refuse?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Then we kill you now, then kill your precious little flock, including Iggy," Cam said, smirking at me. I broke down, falling to my knees crying.

"Okay! I'll do it! Just as long as you don't hurt them," I said. Ari smiled victoriously, revealing his fangs.

"Good choice," he said. They started to leave, but Ari stopped. "And don't even think about telling the flock. We're watching." I gulped and nodded. They left. I scooted against a tree. I couldn't believe what they were making me do. I felt weak and spineless. I sat against the tree crying for a couple of minutes. I decided I had to pull myself together and put on a good poker face as to not lead the flock on that I had a secret. But I knew that Angel would know that I was hiding something. I hid what it was specifically. But I hoped that she'd tell Max that I was hiding something so Max's paranoia would take over and she'd be on extra alert. I went out to the garden Iggy said he'd be at. He was smelling an Easter Lily. Huh, why are they out already? It's only September.

"Hey," I said to Iggy, hoping I didn't look as bad as I felt. He smiled, so apparently not.

"Hey. Have a nice walk?" he asked, kissing my temple. There was a tightening in my chest. He trusted me so much. I didn't deserve it. Max was a little jumpy with me, though she did a great, great job hiding it. You know, since the School trusted me and I use to be in love with an Eraser and all. I didn't blame her.

This is going to be a long 24 hours.

**Hey. Sorry for cutting it off there, but my fingers hurt. Extra long chapter. But, I bet you didn't see that coming! Jab's part vampire and now she has to lure the flock into a trap against her will. My throat closed up while I wrote this. I didn't want to have to do this, but I had to. A reader pointed out that Jab was really perfect. I realize I do need to give her flaws and thank you for pointing that out. So I basically just gave her a flaw, 'cause she has to drink blood and all. The vampire part is due to an experiment at age 11, when she was still forced to live in a crate. They injected her with vampire bat blood and, well, she now has to drink blood. It was an experiment much like Iggy's. They were _trying _to strengthen her hearing, rather than sight, and it had bad results. It did heighten her hearing, but she has a craving for blood, also. A curse, basically. She needs it like she needs food and water. Also, if I still didn't put enough detail, sorry. I'm only 13, and I've only been writing for a couple months. Please let me know. The next chapter is the next day. They went home after they left the park. So, like, R&R. No hate. Just polite critisism, which I welcome openly, and actually love. So, bye!**

**Love,  
Ashley (God, my name is so boring)**


	6. AN HELP! SOS!

Hey guys. It's me. This is NOT a chapter. Sorry :/ But I needed your help. Ya see, I'm undecided about the course of the story. I have a lot of stuff in my head. You pick:

They go to the beach, Erasers come, and they get taken back to the School.

They go to the beach, Erasers come, they beat the Erasers, and then Ari says that Jab help set the Flock up. Later on the Flock doesn't kick her out, but they try to ignore her unless they have to talk to her. Jab gets depressed.

They go to the beach, Erasers come, and Jab gets taken.

They go to the beach, Erasers come, and Jab's vision comes true.

They go to the beach, Erasers come, and Jab gets severely hurt.

Other (your own ideas)

The is your picks. Tell me what you think, okay? See ya!

P. S. OMG, I went to the OMG concert last night – it was sooooooo awesome! Okay, bye.

Love,  
Ashley


	7. Disaster In The Making

**Hey! Sorry about the long wait! I do still love you guys. And your reviews. But since school started, I've been busy with school and stuff. Well, LET'S GO!  
Disclaimer: Sigh. I'm sick of saying it, so I'm not.**

**Playlist:**

**Something About the Sunshine by Anna Margaret  
Dirty Little Secret by All-American Rejects  
The Way That I Loved You by Ashanti  
Can't Be Friends by Trey Songz**

Disaster in the Making

**Jab POV**

I took a deep breath and stepped out o the bathroom, though I just wanted to burrow away in there and never come out. Today was the day I betrayed the only family I ever had. Iggy's eyes got wider and I knew he wouldn't think much of my outfit if he knew that I'd det them up.

"Wow," he breathed. "Just... wow."

"Thanks." He kissed my head and I couldn't help but cring.

"Okay, _what_ is wrong? You've been acting like this ever since we got done at the park yesterday. Did I do something to upset you? Because if I did, I'm sorry."

"No, Iggy. You did nothing. Nothing's wrong. Just let it go." He looked me oer before shaking his head and walking out. I cringed again and ollowed ater him. The Flock was all out in the living room, in their bathing suits and ready to go.

"Everyone ready?" Max asked as we put on our coats, sorangs, ect.

"Yeah." We headed out and I pulled Iggy to drag along the back, where none o the others could hear us.

"Iggy, don't be mad at me."

"I'm not, I just... I need to know what I did to make you act like you don't love me."

"I do love you, Iggy! With all of my heart. I'm mad at myself. I can't tell you why."

"You know you can tell me anything."

"This could kill you and the entire Flock, including myself. I can't tell anybody."

"Jab... What _are_ you talking about?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Like I said, if I tell you, we're all dead." He shook his head.

"Why can't we be normal?"

"Because that's not how things are supposed to be." The rest of the walk to the beach was silent among me and Iggy. When we got to the beach, I felt my eyes water as I stepped onto the sand.

"Hey, you okay? You don't look so good," Fang said, putting a hand on my back as I plopped down on the sand.

"Yeah." He looked me over and then went to sit down against a tree.

"Wanna go in?" I asked Iggy. "Or sit at the edge like when we were in Missuri?"

"Sure." He hauled me up and we walked over to the edge of the water, which was freezing, and sat down there, me between his legs. And then my senses went crazy, my sensory picking up 7 Erasers on the ground, 4 in a helicopter above, and 3 getting ready to grab the kids from underwater.

"Guys! Get out of the water! Sresare!" Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy leapt out of the water just in time before the Erasers jumped up like fury, ugly sharks and scuba outfits.

"Fang! Away from the trees!" He leapt up, bolting away from the trees as the Erasers came out, mouthes foaming.

"Whoa! Where'd these come from?" Iggy exclaimed. "And how'd you hear them beore I did?"

"I'll explain later," I said, shooing up and lunnging at the nearest Eraser. He was dead quickly, me snapping his neck quickly. I lunged on the next one, taking a different killing method. I ripped his throat out, my jaws closing around the artary in his neck before tugging and spitting the big clump of bloody, hairy flesh to the ground. Before I could dismantle that one, I was grabbed from behind and binded. But tasting blood had caused sort of a frenzy. I was deprived and needed blood now. I thrashed around, kicking and screaming and tugging at the ropes that were diggin into my wrists.

"Untie me!" I screached. "Now! Ungrateful bitches, untie me!" I heard a chuckle from above me. I looked up, vision red, to see Cam standing over me in human form, looking gorgeous as Orlando Bloom. I growled at him, snapping at his ankles.

"Oh, Jab, Jab, Jab. Haven't had your fill in a while, I see." He squated down and stroked my anger reddened face with a finger. I snapped at it, but he pulled away before I could close my jaws around it. "Yeah, I'd say about 3, 4 weeks?" He chuckled and then a fist connected with the side of his head. Iggy's fist. It barely phased him. Cam just laughed again and kicked Iggy's legs from under him.

"Pathetic bird."

"Iggy! OMG, Iggy, are you okay?" He nodded weakly. He'd hit his head on the way down. I turned to Cam, eyes narrowed, vision red, as I wobbled into a sitting position. "You'll regret that, bitch." I jumped at him and bit into his neck, but instead of ripping his throat out like I had intended on doing, I found myself drinking his warm, sticky blood. I moaned at the warm liquid and kept on sucking. And then Cam stroked my hair before slamming his fist down on my head and knocking me out cold.

**Iggy POV**

I'm not sure about you guys, but I think watching your one true love suck the blood of her supposed-to-be-dead ex-boyfriend is disturbing to me. Which is why I lay there frozen on the ground as Jab sucked on Cam's neck, drinking the blood from the double crecent she'd made with her teeth. And then he knocked her out clod and I regained my composure, lunging at the bastard. He caught me neatly around the neck with one hand while still cradling Jab against his chest with the other.

"Now, now, birdie. You wouldn't want to wake her up, would you?" He chuckled evilly and through me to the ground as someone else stuffed me into a potato sack.

"Wait, Jab! Jab! Max, Fang! Gasman, Nudge, Angel! Guys!" I panicked, kicking aroun in the bag. I was thrown into, supposedly, a trunk and then 5 other mounds joined me.

"Who's all here?" Max asked.

"Iggy."

"Nudge."

"Fang."

"Angel."

I sat and waited for a Jab but nothing came.

"Where's Jab!" Max panicked.

"Cam has her," I said.

"Metophorically speaking?"

"No, he's back from the dead and he took her. She's knocked out and he probably still has her.

"There's some stuff I need to tell you guys, some stuff Jab thought to me before the Erasers started attacking," Angel started. "Jab set this up, but not on purpose. She said that it was either this or all of us be killed. She said she would have let them kill her, but not us. Then Jab also said that she's been keeping a big secrets. She's a-"

"Vampire," I cut her off. "She was drinking Cam's blood when she got knocked out."

"Wow. A vampire."

"Yeah. That's how she knew the Erasers were coming," Angel continued. "She's part vampire bat, so she has super sensory skills."

"I'm not sure if I should feel bad or not," Nusge admitted. "Jab got us in this mess, and that's bad, but she did it because if she didn't, they'd kill us. We can't be mad at her for that. And she kept the secret from us, which is bad, but she was probably scared that we'd treat her different if we knew, and we can't be mad at her for being insecure. Ugh, I wish I was as anti-emotion as Fang! No offense."

"None taken, and I'm not emotionless. I scared silly over here because my twin sister is with those monsters and I don't know where."

"They could have another chopper!" Gazzy exclaimed.

"They could be probing her!" Nudge added.

"Or disecting her!"

"Or beating her up!"

"Or-"

"Not helping," grumbled Fang. "I'd like to think about her being _okay_ if you don't mind." The bumps on the road quickened and I hit my head on the ceiling, knocking myself out. When I woke up, it was probably 10 hours later, because I was in a crate, in the School, along with the rest of the Flock... not including Jab.

"Damnit! They still have her!" I cursed, punching the iron bars and making my knuckles sting like hell. The rest of the Flock, who'd been asleep, woke up with a start. The sadness on Fang's face after seeing Jab not being in there was more emotion than he'd ever shown in his life. And then the door creeked open and in she stepped, clad in pink Juicy Cotoure sweats and pink and black Pastry hightops, the pink streaks in her black curls restored.

"Morning, freaks."

**Dun-dun-dun! I'd like to say thanks to St. Alaina of Pixie Stix for helping me out with this chapter. The other ideas were awesome, but hers stood out the most. Well, until next chapter, bye!**

**Love,  
Ashley**


	8. Mini Chapter: Sparks Fly

**Mini Chapie! Sorry, this was supposed to go between chapters 7 and 8. I kind of forgot about it. My bad. Just the whole Jab-change scene and a few flashbacks. Jab POV.**

I was awake. I knew I was. But I couldn't move. Oh, God, I will freak out if I end up like a real life version of the movie Awake. I felt my bathingsuit being cut off, which the School would be paying for thing costed $70! Focus, Jab. The thoughts around me were a mixture of jumbled and quite selfish sentences.

_Why don't we just rip open her pretty little brain and see everything we need?_

_I can't wait for my new Jab. _That was Cam.

_She's developed nicely over the years. The avian kids are really paying off._

_Where is Jab! _If I could move, I would cring. That was Fang. And what did Cam mean by "my new Jab"? They put a t-shirt and jeans on me.

"Probe it." They stuck suction cups to my body, about 6 of them across my forehead, 4 on my chest, and 3 on my stomach. And then the most painful thing happened. 100 watts of electricity - not mine or Fang's - coursed through my body, causing me to arch my back in pain and scream bloodymurder.

"STOP!" I screached, clawing at the sheets as my body thashed around. It was by far the most painful thing to ever happen to me in my 14 years. I screamed again, screaming for them to stop, screaming for them to just kill me, screaming for them to take me to my family. I cursed louder and more simultaniously than I ever have in my life. The electricity died down some, but it didn't stop hurting one little bit. As a whitecoat put a hand on my cheek to check my tempeture - the whitecoats were standing on a rubber mat - , I snapped at it, catching it between my teeth. She howled in pain and tried to get my jaws unlocked, unsuccessfully. When I bite you, it's for one of two reasons: to kill you or to feed from you. Maybe both sometimes.

"Ah! The bitch bit me!" She drew her other hand back to smack me, but Cam caught her hand, narrowing his eyes before thowing her hand down and gently unclamping my jaw, revealing a cleanly cut, bloody double crecent on the whitecoat's hand. I would have smirked if I hadn't been in so much pain.

"No one lays a hand on her. Got it?" Cam growled. I screamed again and my clothes were in ruins, burnt and holey. And then I started loosing my body. I wasn't dying, because I could still feel the electicity, but I was losing control of it. And Cruella, the evil voice living in my head, started taking control. She started laughing as she got pushed up and I got pushed down into the deepest corner of my brain. As she gained full control, and I found myself standing in her "room" in my head, I groaned and kicked the wall, making my head as well as hers hurt. I clutched my head, falling onto her bed. My body still hurt, though it was indirect. And then the electricity stopped all together and I knew they were about to let her go. They knew who she was, what she was made for. They put her in my head, and they just so easily reversed it. That's why I hated the time before I mated with Cam. They treated me like a "thing" instead of a person, like a frog in a high school lab.

"Nooooooo!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, making my and Cruella's head hurt. She was really blond with cold black eyes. I'd seen her a couple times in my dreams. When I'm awake, it's much like Voice in Max's head. She didn't really have a voice and so I had named her Bo in the first coupled years of my life. In fact, the first time I heard her was the day they separated me and Fang, when we were 3 months old. I don't know how I remember it, I just do. I think they may have increased my comprehesion when they messed with my brain when I was a newborn.

_**Flashback Alert!**_

_I looked out of my cage at the boy before me. He had black hair and big brown eyes, just like me. I'd been next to him for the past 3 months, neither of us ever being moved from each others' side. I reached out and he did the same and when our hands touched a little blue spark formed. I stared at it in wonder, its glowing color reflecting off of both of our faces. As a man in a long white coat came in, his eyes widened and the first thing he did was rip me away from the boy. He started crying and so did I and then I hurled a metal tray at the man with my mind. He ran out, dodging the tray and taking the boy with him and yelling some stuff to the other people in long white coats. The big dog men came in and scooped me up, taking me to an empty room and putting me in a dog crate. What a life._

It's much better in here, _a voice said in my head. _You're a little reak, ya know? A little mutant baby freak.

"_Mu-tan bay-ba feek," I said, copying the voice._

Yup, a little baby freak. You have wings and did you _see_ what you did back there? Weird!

"_We-rd."_

_Flashback Ends!_

I felt a tear go down my cheek as I thought about the last time I'd seen Fang before a few weeks ago. And then I thought about when I first mated with Cam.

_Another Flashback!_

_I sat back in my dog crate and rubbed my black eye and my swollen cheek, healing it before laying down._

Pathetic little freak,_ Cruella said in my head._

"_Shut your trap," I said, eyes narrowed. To anyone else, to anyone from outside of the School, I would have looked like a loonie that should be locked away in a cusioned room in a straight jacket. But everyone in the School knew that the voice in my head is due to them tampering with my brain when I was an infant._

Make me,_ she sneered. I rolled my eyes and sat back._

"_You know, you're even more of a freak than me. I may have wings and read minds and stuff but you're just a voice in my mind. You don't even have a body." I sensed an eyeroll from her, though I couldn't see it._

Whatever.

"_And," I continued, "If you ever do get a body, it will most likely be mine and you will be twice the freak you already are." She kicked the inside of my head and I gunted, clutching my head. The door opened and in stepped a gorgeous Eraser with green eyes and shoulder length brown hair._

Casanova,_ Cruella whispered, and I felt her wiggle her thin blond eyebrows._

"_Shush," I whispered to her._

"_What was that?" the Eraser snapped. I could tell he was pretty young, but that didn't really mean much. I've seen Erasers that have expired at age 1. No one experiment's expiration date is certain._

"_Nothing," I whispered._

Oh, _now_ she's all hide in her shell, I'm scared.

"_Would you shut up!" I whisper-yelled at her. _

"_What the hell did you just say to me?" He brought his face down to my level, drawing a hand back to smack me. My eyes widened and I looked into his. He froze and looked back into mine._

"_I-I wasn't talking to you."_

"_Then to whom were you talking to?"_

"_Cruella, the voice in my head. They didn't tell you?"_

"_Tell me what?"_

"_Well, when I was an infant, I was seperated from my mom, as the rest of us were, and then my twin brother when we were a few months old. I think I might have had the voice since birth. I'm not sure. I didn't hear her until my brother was taken away from me. I think he was a shield from it or something." I shrugged. "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Cruella. She's rather a bitch."_

Why thank you,_ she said smugly._

"_I've had just about enough of you," I snapped at her. She laughed and was quiet. "You're in for it when I go to sleep."_

"_Some company, huh?"_

"_No offense, but Erasers aren't that much better."_

"_How old are you?"_

"_13," I said. "How old are you?"_

"_2," he said, sitting cross-legged in front of my cage. "I'm kinda new here." He looked like he was about 13 or 14, 15 tops, dressed in a nice but casual white long-sleeved buxton shirt with dark jeans and fresh white Nikes. I looked down at myself, my size 36A bra showing over the neckline of my wornout, torn pink t-shirt, my size 00 jeans ripped and dingy looking around my waist. It was like comparing roaches to butterflies. The differences were there the second you look at them._

"_You're bleeding," I whispered, smelling the fresh blood before I saw it._

"_Oh, yeah. I need to get that fixed up."_

"_I... I can do it," I said reluctantly._

"_How?"_

"_I heal. It's a special power."_

"_Wow." He looked me over, contemplating on whether he should let me out._

"_I won't try anything. Scout's honor." He chuckled and undid the latch. I pushed it open slowly, stepping out and stetching my 11 feet of wing I'd had tucked against my spine. He smiled. I took his wounded hand and inspected it._

"_Combat training?" I asked._

"_Yeah, how'd you know?"_

"_A lot of people come in here with these kinds of cuts. And you have a fingernail in here." I pulled out the bloody clipping, tossing it aside and inspecting for further damage._

"_You've seen a person in your family?" The small, innocent question startled me._

"_Yeah. But I don't really remember much about him. Just that he-" I was cut off by his phone ringing, blasting "Brick By Boring Brick" by Paramore._

"_She lives in a fairytale somewhere too far or us to find.  
Forgotten the taste and smell of the world that she's let behind.  
It's all about the exposure the lens I told her.  
The angles were all wrong now she's ripping wings off of butterflies."_

_He chuckled at me knowing to words to the song and answered the phone while I repaired his hand, him gasping when I licked the blood off. I chuckled, looking for anything else that doesn't belong, and then closing it up._

"_No, I'll be right there," he said, looking at me. He hung up and looked at me._

"_You have to go."_

"_How'd you-"_

"_I can read minds."_

"_Oh. Well, yeah. I guess... I'll see you later." I smiled and nodded, standing up at the same time he did. I walked him to the door and then he caught me off guard by giving me a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing out the door. I blushed bright red, a smiled creeping over my face. I slid down the door, squealing silently into my hand._

Lucky. _I smirked._

"_For once, I agree."_

**Hey! Just a chapter about how Jab became evil. It wasn't really her. It's not exactly a "Max II" moment, but it's more of an out of body experience, only she's in her body and she's alive. IDK how to explain it. Well, until next chapter, tootles! Muah!**

**Love,  
Ashley**


	9. Family Feuds

**Family Feuds**

"Morning, freaks," Jab said, eyes no longer brown and playful, but black and cold.

"Jab?" Nudge whispered, tears starting in her eyes. "What did they do to you?" Jab smirked, strutting to the center of the room.

"They fixed me is what they did. I feel like a new me." She flipped her hair and smirked, walking over to my cage and squating down.

"A cute freak. That's a first." She stood up and switch walked to the door, where Cam was waiting. He encircled his arms around her waist and the door swung shut, leaving us shocked and more than a little hurt.

"What just happened?" Max asked.

"She betrayed us!" Gazzy yelled, tears pouring out of his eyes and down his cheeks. "All this time, she lied."

"No, she didn't," Angel said. "It's not Jab."

"That... doesn't makes sense," I said.

The next day, Jab came in, clad in black glittery leggings, a pink tutu, and a silver glittery lace-lined cami.

"Hello, goodmorning, freaks," she sneered, taking her bright pink earbuds out of her ears, even though I could swear that they'd been blue. I sat back in my crate, sighing in exasperation. She was the same as yesterday. She looked at me and winked, but I knew she was flirting, not telling me it was all a show. She sat on Angel's crate, crossing her legs and looking around at our depressed faces. She frowned. "What? Not happy to see me?" Fang rolled his eyes, and we all said nothing. "Well, you're going to have to put up with me. I'm the boss." She smirked and her bright pink watch started beeping. "Oh, goodie. My mudbath." She stood up and waved. "Tootles." She skipped out, blowing me a flirtatous kiss that I'm sure Cam would kill me about later before going out the door.

"I'm guessing we're going to get daily visits from Queen Jab," Nudge mumbled.

"That's a good thing, right? We get to see her every day, which gives us the oportunity to figure out how to save her everyday," Angel said. "Plus, she only stays for a couple minutes, then leaves.

"Why does she enjoy coming here, anyways? Other than to rub in her power and flirt with Iggy?" Max mumbled.

"Maybe there's still a part of the old Jab in there that is making sure we are alright," I suggested.

"Wait, I just got through to Jab," Angel said excitedly.

"How, may I ask, did you do that?" Max asked skeptically.

"Jab is still in there, the new one is just taking over the body," Angel explained. "She said that she misses us and she's been trying to get control, but evil Jab is too strong. She made a deal with Evil Jab - oh, her name's Cruella, wow. Well she made a deal with Cruella that Jab would stop complaining every time she kissed Cam if she came to see us every day. Cruella, luckily, isn't exactly the brightest mind."

"Wow," I said.

"Tell her we miss her, too," Fang said, smiling for the first time in... well, ever. Then again, he just found out his twin sister was alright and _alive_ - in whatever form she may be in.

"You all can talk to her through your thoughts, I just have to translate."

_I love you_, I thought.

"She says she loves you, too, Iggy," Angel said, speaking for Jab. "She says that she'd like to see you try, Gazzy. Miss you too, Fang, Nudge, and Max."

_Are you sure that you're putting all of your strength into getting back out? _I asked, directing the question to Jab.

"Yes," Angel said. "She's pretty sure. But she's not that energized because the blood she drank from Cam wasn't enough to fuel her completely." I shuddered.

_Gross._

"She laughed at Iggy. And she'd like me to only repeat things when she- Oh, sorry." I laughed.

_Where are you now?_

"Mudbath, and it's feeling amazing."

"Wow."

"I know right."

_How long is it going to take?_

"About 10 minutes, why?"

_Ask Cruella if you can come back in._

"She's going to say no. Why do you think we only stay for two minutes?"

"Angel, you don't _have_ to say it exactly as she says it."

"I'm not Angel," Angel said. "I'm Jab." She smiled, her brown eyes fixed on my blue ones - wait brown?

"Jab!" I exclaimed, grinning. "How in the world?"

"I have no idea." She stretched an arm in front of her, blonde eyebrows smushed together, then pulling a blond curl in front of her to see it. "What the fuck?"

"Aye, you may be in 14, but no cussing while in Angel's body."

"Sorry." She smiled. "I forgot I was in the body of a six-year-old." She looked at the fingerprint-operated locks and they all beeped simulatniously, signalling that they were unlocked.

"How the hell...?" I breathed, pushing the door opened.

"I can control elecronics with my mind. Plus, I have telekinesis." She shrugged.

"How the _hell_ do you have so many powers?" Max cussed.

"Well, half of them are actually Fang's."

"Excuse me?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, when one twin develops a power, the other gets it, too. You just didn't realize you'd developed the ability. I think the telekinesis, healing, and the ability to move silently are yours and mind reading, controling electronics, and visions are mine. And the electricity we've both had since birth. I think it's something genetic that we both got at the same time."

"So, what you're saying is everything you can do, I can, too?"

"Exactly." Her eyes had a little blue mixed into them for a second. "Angel says that she hopes we find a way to get me back into my body soon cuz the room in her head is very bland. Well, Angel, all you have to do is think about how you want and it'll happen. You could have a little Edward Cullen in there if you wanted." Jab shook her head.

"You had to give her that much information?" Max laughed. "She's probably got all of the Cullen guys, Justin Bieber, Cody Simpson, and Chase Crawford in there."

"She said shush." Max laughed. The door opened and there stood... I guess until Jab is back into her body, I call her Cruella.

"Jab, get back in here," she said, hands on her hips. Jab crossed her arms over her chest.

"Make me," she said defiantly, sticking her tongue out at her. "The only way I'm going in there is if you give me my body back."

"Not happening," she said. Fang looked at her and nodded. He stood up and walked up to Cruella, touching her and, therefor electricuting her. Jab smirked and stood up.

"Reverse psychology, beach." Max was about to make a comment, but Jab said, "I said beach."

"Whatever."

"Anyways, I'll explain how this is going to work." She touched Cruella, making Cruella scream more. "You'll give me my body back and I won't have Fang and myself blow you into oblivion. Deal?"

"In you dreams!"

"Fine." She looked at Fang and then she put both hands on her, Max and Nudge rushing to shut and lock the door. Cruella screamed bloody murder. There were cuts and burns appearing on her skin, but she wasn't burnt to a crisp. Jab closed her eyes, and then opened them a minute later, only, they were blue. She was Angel again. She pulled back with a squeak, shaking her hands. Cruella wasn't screaming anymore. I looked at her and grinned when our eyes met. Her eyes were brown again, not black. She grinned, though her face was a bit marred from the electrocution, and shot foward at me. I stood up in time for her to slam into my chest, her arms wrapped around my neck and mine around her waist.

"My God, I never thought I'd see you as you again," I said into her hair.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," she whipered into my neck. I could feel her tears on my neck. "Don't ever leave me."

"Never. You do the same."

"Promise." We pulled back and smiled, our eyes connecting. I cupped her cheek and leaned down to kiss her. Her hands slid from around my neck to cup my face. Someone cleared their thoat. We broke apart with a laughed, turning toward our family. I could imagine if we were in a movie, this'd be the part where they played happy, closing music and then it would fade into black and credits would start rolling down the screen. But this was no movie, and we still had to get out of the School.

"That's the thing," Jab said, smiling widely. "We're not at the School. We're at the Institute."

"We're at the _Intitute_?" Max exclaimed.

"As in _the _Institiute?" Nudge asked.

"Yup," she said.

"Well, we found it. Now what? Do we look for our information, or try to find our way out?"

"We... I don't know. Wait here." Jab looked at herself in a compact that was in her pocket, heaaling her cuts and burns so she looked completely normal. "Time to play Cruella." She put on a snooty face, a hand on her hip, and started to strut out of the room. I watched after her and listened as she talked to Cam.

**Jab POV**

"Hey, Cam," I said in a high, girlie voice like Cruella'd used when she'd had control.

"Hey, Cruella," he said, pecking me on the lips. I could feel Iggy's jealously from here. He was watching.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Where do they keep records?"

"Why?"

"In case I want to find some dirt on these freaks," I said, forcing a smirk.

"It's in a little portion of the Institute that's underground. You have to get to it through the sewers." I saw exactly which route you had to take to get to the little portion.

"Thanks." I looked up at him, directly in the eyes, and his own green ones widened when he realized who I was.

"Wait a second, you're-"

"Night night, bitch." I punched him in the face and his eyes went crossed before he passed out, falling back unconcious. It was actually quite comical. I waved for the Flock to come out.

"Come on. We have to get to the sewers, and I know how." I looked around and then squatted down to open the air vent, using my nails as screwdrivers. When I had it open, I motioned everyone into the small space, Angel first, then Gazzy, followed by Gazzy, then Nudge, Fang, Max, and Iggy. I went in last, pulling the vent into place on the way. It wasn't easy for us. We were all still claustrophobic, added to the fact that the heat was on and our wings, even pressed to out spines, were kind of making it a tight squeeze. We didn't want them all the way tucked away, just in case the vent gave way.

"Left," I whispered. We went left and came to a steep slant where the stairs were. "This will take some time. Bomb's away." We all - with some struggling - had our feet in front of us and were sliding down the very long vent, Iggy eventually landing between my legs. He looked back at me and smiled, the wind making his black-tipped hair blow in his face. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him to my chest. The vent's slant came to a stop after about five minutes of sliding.

"Thank you for riding the Vent Express. Please do not leave any trash or feathers behind. Thank you," I whispered. Iggy laughed. "This is where we get off." I nodded to another air vent and looked at it, trying to figure out how to open it. I sighed and bit my lip, knowing my only idea would be painful. I nudged everyone foward so I could get to the vent and, taking a deep breath, struck it with the inside of my wrist, - not the one that said Iggy - knocking it out of place. I sucked in a breath, clutching a hand to my chest.

"_Holy_-" I grunted, eyes squeezed shut. Taking in another shaky breath, I healed it and continued on, wiggling the vent the rest of the way open. I stuck my feet out, dangling by my hands before dropping into the room lightly, with the help of my wings. I looked around, finding the room empty. "All good," I said, standing up. I found some clothes and changed quickly in the closet while the flock dropped in. The clothes were a simple pair of jeans and blue cami. I stepped out, looking around at the dozens of computers.

"Whoa. I hope they all have the same stuff." Max ran to one of them, turning it on. We swarmed around her, looking at the screen.

"Crap. Password."

"Now way," I groaned. I shook my head. "Not even I can-"

"Let me try," Nudge interupted. Max shrugged and stood, letting Nudge sit in the seat. She touched the keyboard, and as soon as her fingers made contact with the plastic, they starteddrumming quickly, making no apparent words. When she pushed the enter button, the computer went to its home screen.

"How the..." We all stared at Nudge in wonder as she continued to type and click and type again, finding random files that were labeled "Experiment Type # (insert number here)." There were thousands, and she was picking out random ones, but at the same time she seemed to know what she was looking for. I shot straight as my dog genes - I know, I'm very messed up - picked up another dog in the area. Not Erasers. It was maybe a Scottish Terrier? Yeah. I got on all fours and followed the scent, sniffing the air. Iggy looked at me, an eyebrow raised as he followed me. I pushed the door open and sat on my hindquarters, my toungue sticking out as I panted like a dog. Iggy squated down in front of me.

"Jab, why are you acting like a dog?" he asked me softly. I shook my head, snapping out of it. I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Another thing I never told you." I stood up and laughed uneasily again. "I'm part dog." He eyed me. "But I'm not Eraser part dog. I'm just, part dog, like, I'm part... um, I think I'm a chiwawa-pitbull mix. I'm not sure. But the point is I sensed a Scottish Terrier in here." I looked behind him, my eyes widening.

"What?" He looked over his shoulder, his own eyes widening when he saw the dozens of dozens of crates, some empty, some containing an experiment. Some weren't moving.

"Whoa," I breathed, walking in and squatting in front of the first one I saw. There was a little fish boy in there, his entire body covered in green scales. He looked about the size of a two-year-old.

"Hi," I said softly. He looked at me, cowering in the corner when I spread my wings out. "No, it's okay." I smiled reassuringly. "I'm Jab." I unlocked his cage, helping him step out. He was unsteady on his feet, but could walk, nonetheless. "See? I'm not going to hurt you." He stumbled, grabbing my shoulder to steady himself. I stood, bringing him up in my arms. He had curly red hair and sea-green eyes. The only inhuman thing about him was his skin. He looked at me, head cocked to the side. "You're actually really cute, nevermind the skin." I touched his pudgy green nose and he giggled. "Aww, that was cute." I sat him down and called for Iggy to help me let the rest out. I came across many different ones, some with feathers all over, some with patches of scales, some with eyes all over, some with ears on their necks, even some Siamese twins with little splotches of scales all over. They obviously had the genes of the two-headed cobra in them. I don't even want to know how the School got that.

"Is that them all?" I asked Iggy, picking up the fish boy, who I was naming Trent. He laid his head on my shoulder.

"Yeah," he said, grimacing as he looked into the last cage. Obviously another dead one.

"Does anyone know clear English?" I asked the stunned experiments.

"I do," a little girl said. She had brown hair and eyes, and was carrying an infant with little tuffs of hair all over his body. She also had brown wings. "And I can take care of them."

"Okay."

"Ooo, a dog!" Angel exclaimed from the door, running to a cage in the corner that we'd missed. "Ooo, Max! Can we keep him? Please?"

"Okay, but you're taking care of it," she said. I looked at the dog as Angel took it out of the cage. It was a Scottish Terrier, with black hair. Angel hugged it. I looked back at Trent.

"Do you want to come with us?" I asked Trent. He nodded, smiling. I put him down before jogging over to Iggy.

"What would you say... if I asked you if you wanted to be a father?" He flinched away, loosing all color in his face.

"Say whaaaaaa?" he exclaimed. I put my hands up and laughed.

"Not like that." I jogged back over the Trent, picking him up and going back over to Iggy. "This is Trent."

"Tent," Trent copied.

"Hi, Trent," Iggy said, reaching out a finger. Trent grabbed it and Iggy shook it up and down.

"Trent, this is Iggy."

"Iggy," he said.

"So? What's your answer?"

"Yes," he said. "I will be his father." I smiled and pecked him on the lips.

"Trent, can you say momma?"

"Ma-ma."

"Can you say dadda?"

"Da-da."

"I'm momma."

"And I'm dadda." He smiled and touched my face.

"Ma-ma." He touch Iggy's face. "Da-da."

"Good." I kissed his cheek. Nudge and Fang came in.

"That's Uncle Fang and Aunt Nudge."

"Unc Fang. Aun Nudge." I nodded and gave him another kiss. He giggled.

"Aww, who's this?" Nudge asked, ignoring his skin.

"Trent. We're his adoptive parents now." I smiled at him. "Trent, who is this?"

"Aun Nudge," she said, touching her cheek. Nudge laughed and looked at me.

"Can I hold him?"

"Sure." I gave him over. He gave her a slobbery kiss on the cheek. She laughed.

"Hey, Trent." She tickled under his chin. He giggled adoribly.

"It's time to leave. We have the papers. What's holding you- What is that?"

"_He_ is Trent and _he_ is your nephew."

"Unc Fang," Trent giggled, reaching for him.

"My nephew?" His eyes widened.

"Not like that," I groaned. "Jesus, do either of us have scales? No. And if you ever call him a that again, I will kill you."

"Sorry, jeez," he said.

"Jeez," Trent mimicked. Fang smiled a little.

"That was cute."

"At as cute," he copied.

"Stop copying me."

"Op cop-ying me."

"I mean it."

"I ean it."

"Stop it."

"Op it."

"Okay, that's enough." I took Trent back from Nudge. "I'm sure Erasers are already after us. We better-" I heard the door to the computer room burst open. "Right on cue." All the experiments, which the bird girl still was trying to round up, started panicking, scrambling around. Angel picked up the dog, the Flock came together, and I squished Trent closer to me. He was crying because of all of the chaos.

"It's okay," I whispered. He sniffled into my hair. We ran out, running into the Erasers, led by a very pissed off Cam. He glared at me and I stiffled a laugh at the sight of his black eye and swolen nose.

"Try to walk and chew gum again?" I asked sarcastially. He glared harder.

"I'll take that." He took Trent from me, making him cry.

"Hey! Give me him back!"

"Yeah I don't think I will." I growled and jumped at him, biting him in the arm. He howled in pain and dropped Trent, who Iggy caught.

"It's okay, Trent," he whispered, smoothing down his curls.

"This is for taking my family." I punched Cam in the jaw, breaking it. "This is far taking my pride." I punched him in the nose, the already broken bones bending awkwardly. "This is for taking my freedom." I ripped out a huge lock of hair. "This is for taking my baby." I scratched him across the cheek. "And _this_ is for taking my virginity!" Grabbing his head between my hands, I twisted his head sharply, hearing the snap before seeing his head bent at an awkward angle. Angry tears were on my cheeks, and even when his body dropped, I kept punching him, and punching him, and punching him. Because he's taken so much from me, hurt me so much, used me so much, that it just overflowed at this point.

"Jab! Jab! Baby, come on!" I heard Iggy yelling at me. I ignored him and kept on with my angry rampage on Cam's face. I felt hands pulling me off of him and carrying me up. I snapped enough out of my furious daze to realize I had to fly. So I flapped my wings and headed out, narrowly making it out the door. I heard Erasers coming after us. They were angry. I think that what I did back there was worse than the birds. I'd completely pounded his face in, made him inrecognizable. "Heads up!" I turned to Iggy and he tossed me Trent. I caught him and clutched my baby to my chest.

"Mommy's never letting you go, okay?" I said. He wrapped his arms around my neck, shaking.

"I wuv you, ma-ma," he said. I smiled and now happy tears poured out of my eyes.

"I love you, too, Trent," I said. "Forever." We escaped the sewer and ran on foot until we were in town square. We went into a laundry mat and sat down. Trent was lulling to sleep, though he kept trying to keep his eyes open. I laid his head on my chest and smoothed down his hair.

"Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin, mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace."

His eyes closed, his breathing evened, and he was asleep.

"Jab?" It was Iggy who said my name.

"Yeah?" I asked him, still rocking Trent.

"What did you mean back there?" he asked. "About Cam taking away your virginity?"

"Oh." I blushed bright pink. "When Cruella had contol, they... yeah." I frowned and looked down.

"Oh." He blushed, too.

"Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." He smiled and kissed my temple.

"I love you, too." He kissed Trent's forehead. "And I love this baby."

"You say that like I spent hours in labor," I mumbled. He chuckled.

"Oh my," I heard a woman say. She had stopped with her clothes on a cart. "Is that your baby?"

"Adoptively." _Or stollenly_.

"Not to be rude... Why does he have scales?"

"Rare skin dysfunction," I said, running a hand through his hair.

"And may I ask... How old are you?"

"14," we said.

"It wasn't an official adoption. We found him and couldn't just leave him." I smiled down at Trent.

"What's his name?"

"Trent."

"And you're both his current parents?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And your parents actually allowed this?"

"We don't have parents," we said sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"How could you have?" I smiled. "Really, it's no biggy."

"Let me treat you all to dinner."

"No, I couldn't."

"I insist."

"Oh, okay. But you know that all 8 of us, plus the dog, are together."

"No problem." She smiled. "It's the least I can do."

"Thank you, ma'am," Max said.

"What're your names?"

"Jab."

"Iggy."

"Max."

"Fang."

"Nudge."

"Gazzy."

"Angel. And this is Total."

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Glory."

**Hey, guys! How do you like Jab, Iggy, and Trent? They're awesome, right? Trent is just adorible, even with green skin. Anyways, bye!**

**Love,  
Ashley**


	10. When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Run

**When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Skidadle**

"Really, we have money. You don't have to treat all nine of us."

I was once again insisting that Glory didn't have to pay, that we had money, but she insisted. And so we followed her out the laundry mat and down the crowded sidewalks of New York. The Flock was linked together, me and Angel at the ends since we each needed an arm to carry someone. Trent received some stares, some weirded out, some sympathetic, some just grossed the fuck out.

"Acting like they've never seen a baby before." I rolled my eyes. "Didn't anyone ever tell them that it isn't nice to stare?"

"Ma-ma," Trent said. I looked down at him.

"Yes, Trent?"

"I gotta go." I nodded and called to the rest of the Flock and Glory.

"Trent's gotta take a leak. How far is the place from here?"

"Really far. It's in China Town."

"Okay then." I looked around, finding a McDonalds to my left. "Can we go in there so he can pee?"

"Yes, of course." I jogged in, letting go of Iggy' hand and rushing into the McDonalds. Trent's thighs were tight around my waist as he held his pee in.

"One more minute," I said to him, going in to the bathroom and running into the first stall I saw. He pulled his pants and underwear down, sitting and peeing with a sigh. "Sweet releif, huh?" He giggled and scooted off of the toilet, wiping and flushing like a pro. "They potty trained you?" He nodded with a smiled. "Thank God." As I picked him up and walked out of the stall, looking at him, I heard gasps. I looked at our company and came to an embarrassing realization. I was in the mens room. A guy was standing at a toiletry, holding his manhood. "Uh-oh." I laughed awkwardly. "Gentlemen." They were all teenagers, and therefore, tried to keep me in there. I growled at them. "I have a boyfriend, sickos, and this is _my_ baby." I left them with shocked faces. "Gimme five," I whispered to Trent. He gave me a high five and I laughed.

"Mind telling me why you just came out of the guys' bathroom?" Nudge giggled.

"Went into the wrong bathroom. Happens to the best of us." She laughed and shook her head. "I was fricking harrassed by a mob of teenaged boys in there. It was quite scaring." She laughed again, but Iggy was serious.

"Did they touch you?" he asked me, assessing me from head to toe.

"No, Iggy," I said, giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, really."

"Okay." He ran a hand through my hair.

"Ma-ma tol off sickos. She got bo-fend an I her bay-ba." I smiled.

"Did she now?" Iggy asked.

"Yup," he said, nodding and making his curly hair bounce up and down.

"How much money do you all have? Maybe I could give you some?" Glory asked us as we exited the McDonalds.

"We have an infanant amount, actually." I showed her my credit card that'd been in my pocket. Cruella'd tried to give Cam the password, but every time I'd kick or shock the inside of out head, making both her and my head hurt. "My bottomless beauty." Her eyes widened. "My parents left me a lot of money. Let's leave it at that."

"Okay then."

"Now you know why I was turning down your invite. I could treat half of New York to a dinner at the most expensive place in New York."

"I see that." She smiled and I sensed 6 forms running at us from behind. Erasers.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We have to jet. Guys, Sresare!" They nodded and said goodbye to Glory, before we all ran ahead.

"No alleys," Max groaned. "No flying." At the word, Trent, who was clutching my neck for dear life, skot up straight and wings shot through his shirt. They had audurn feathers, lined with white and were about 7 feet across.

"Whoa." It took me a second to realize I had to hide his wings. I took my jacket off and put it around the back of him. He tried to get his wings out again, but I shook my head, telling him we'd get in trouble if he had them out. He stopped and stuck to clutching my neck.

"Alley in 10 yards," I said, feeling the opening before seeing it. They nodded and when we reached it, we turned, me removing the coat from around Trent so he unfolded his wings. I whispered, "Fly," in his ear. He flapped his wings and was off, flying a little clumsily, but flying, nonetheless. "That's my boy." I jumped and unfolded my wings, flapping and carrying myself up. The Flock followed closely behind. I heard the Erasers cursing at us from below, and smirked. A little too soon, Jab. I heard the bang and everything happened in slow motion. It was like, I was slowing time down. I saw the bullet, where it was going. Straight toward Trent. I shot forward, sheilding him. The bullet hit me, clipping me in the shoulder and wing. He grunted and gritted my teeth, whispering, "Fly," again so that Trent would keep flying. I let him go and tried to fly, but my wing was on fire.

"Gotcha," Fang grunted at he caught me mid-air. He looked at me wing and shoulder and touched them, his eyes widening when both wounds closed up.

"I ain't no dumby," I smirked. He let me go and I flapped, stiff at first but then catching some good air. Iggy was with Trent. Max was in front. Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy were behind Iggy and Trent. Angel had Total in her arms. Me and Fang were behind them. I banked to gain some speed and flew ahead to be on Trent's other side.

"Ma-ma kay?" he asked. I smiled.

"Yes," I said, kissing my hand and then putting it on his nose. He giggled.

"Fang healed you?" Iggy asked me. I nodded.

"I'm not dumb. I know my fair share of knowledge about experiments." He smiled.

"But wow. Trent has wings." I swept a hand across his cheek. Scales fell off, reveiling smooth, pale skin. My eyes widened. "Wow." I read the word they told him at the Institute to stop his flying. "Fold." He folded his wings and I caught him. I started brushing my hands over his scaled. They fell off and fell to the earth like a green hail. I'd cleared off his entire face, exept for a few that decided to stay. He felt his skin and smiled. "I like ma-ma an da-da." I smiled and nodded and pulled off one of the stray one. He whimpered, so obviously the ones still therewould hurt to take off. "Sorry." I would mutter sorry every time I pulled one off. When they were all gone from his face, I brushed the ones on his neck and chest off. He shivered when I pulled his shirt up to get the ones on the front and back of him. When that was done, I brushed as much as I could off of his legs.

"All done. Well get the rest off later." I looked down and realized we were in Rhode Island.

"What do you say we rest here? It's late and we're all probably really tired." Max agreed, followed by the rest of the Flock. We landed on a borderline beach, one that went directly out into the Ocean, right on the border off the US. I dunked underwater with Trent to wash the rest of his skin off, the guys went to get wood** (Lol. *eyebrow wiggle*)**, and the girls and Total dug a firepit. Trent was breathing underwater, as I expected, and I had to come back over water every minute or two, three tops for air. I took his pants off of him and scrubbed the rest of his scales off, making sure I didn't miss any under his arms, behind his knees and elbows, on his neck, between the joints of his wings, and any other joint or tight space. When we came out, the fire was started and everyone was huddled closely around it. Iggy'd been holding my iPod and credit card. I used my dry coat as a towel, laying it out and sitting down on it, Trent between my legs.

"Holy crap it's cold now," I shivered, hugging a shaking Trent to my chest.

"Yeah, that's because you're soaking wet," he said. He took his shirt off and handed it to me, leaving him in his undershirt.

"Thanks." I took my own shirt off and slid into his, not caring that my entire family was right there. Iggy had seen me naked already and, Total was a dog, Trent was a baby, Fang was my brother, and Gazzy could deal. Nudge, Max, and Angel were girls.

"And here." He gave me his jacket to put on Trent. I wrapped it tightly around him, taking his shirt and pants off since they were soaked.

"Tomorrow we go shopping. Again," I said. Max agreed to it. We stacked fists and laid down by the fire. I sat awake, watching Trent's eyes flutter closed.

"Max," I whispered. She was the only other person awake.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not taking your place." She looked at me skeptically.

"What makes you say that?"

"I read minds, remember?" I smiled. "I know that at times you feel like I'm taking your place as their mother. I'm not. I'm only the mother of one person at the moment." I smiled down at Trent. "I cannot even do half the things you do for the Flock."

"You provide us with shelter, clothes, food, and more. That's more than I can even do."

"You support us, keep us from falling. Max, I'm only a brick in the building. I'm vital, but not nearly as important as the cement. That's you. You're what keeps us all together. You're what keeps us unstable. Without you, one wrong move, one misplaced brick could make it all tumble down. The cement holds it together, makes sure we're intact even when things go wrong, even if their's a tornado, a earthquake, a flood, you keep us together. Don't forget that." She smiled at me. I smiled back.

"Thanks."

"No thanks needed when it's the truth."

"Sweet dreams."

"Ditto, sis-in-law." She glared at me playfully and we went to sleep.


	11. Mermaid Dreams and Masquerade Shopping

**Mermaid Dreams and Masquerade Shopping**

I woke up with a start. I'd had a bad dream, not a vision, but still enough to way me up. I looked down at Trent. He was still there, scaleless and beautiful. I sighed and hugged him to my chest. He sighed and burried his face in my neck. I laid him down in the sand, still wrapped in Iggy's coat. I sighed, running a hand through my hair, standing up and stripping down. When I was completely naked, I went into the water, going back until it was neck-deep. Going under, I relayed the events from the dream

_I was in the ocean, in a shell bikini top and my hair waist long and jet black with starfish in it. Iggy was at my side, shirtless. The Flock was with me, Angel, Max, and Nudge had much the same atire as me on, only Max and Angel had seashells instead of starfish and Angel's top was more of just a bikini top for little girls, with little sand dollars, seashells and starfish decorating it. We all had fins, mines black, Iggy's white and black, Max's white-spotted brown, Nudge's tawny brown, and Angel and Gazzy's white. Trent was in front of me. We were royals, me, Fang, Max, Angel, Gazzy, Trent, and Nudge. But not Iggy. That is why the sea was stirring, and the sky was grey, like a scene in a movie before war._

_"It is close," I said, chest out and chin up. "Father is getting madder."_

_"Ma-ma, what wong?" Trent asked me, looking scared. I ran a hand through his red hair, dry depite the water splashing into it. There was a small crown upon his head, as well as the rest of the royals. Even Total, now a mer-dog, had a diamond-incrusted collar._

_"Grandpa is throwing a fit over daddy."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because daddy isn't royal."_

_"But everything's going to be okay," Iggy assured him, stroking our only son's cheek. Sharks gathered on the other side of the sea, on the border line between the Atlantic and Arctic. We were in the Atlantic. Dolphins gathered on our side, along with Baracuda, Blowfish, Rockfish, Sea Lions, and fly fish. I tapped my black pearl necklace around my neck, making my Marks show. They were glowing tattoos that held magical powers. They were a mermaid prince or princess's second most dangerous weapon, the first being their voices. Mine glowed black against my skin, my eyes turning a glowing shade of blue._

_"I'm ready for the worse." What I didn't expect were for big, hairy Eraser-sharks to come up on the other side. On our side, the experiments from the Institute were coming up from the water. I smiled at the cobra twins and the bird girl and the one with eyes all over her body and all the rest._

_"Hello, friends." I put on my royal voice, the one that gave me the authority of a queen, even as a princess._

_"Princess," the bird girl bowed. The thing is... mermaid wars aren't violent. The setting just is. We fight with our voices. Without another word, all of the participants got into two straight lines. They were almost even, our reaching a little farther than the Arctic's._

_"Last change, Jabrielle!" Father yelled, his long grey beard full of seaweed._

_"No chance!"_

_"Have it your way!" A stage appeared out of nowhere and we didn't have tails or bikinis on anymore. I was in leather jeans, a red crop top, a leather jecket, and black leather biker gloves. All of the girls around my age had on the same atire, exept for the fish and dophins, who were in front of the stage in the water. Iggy had on black skinny jeans, no shirt, a black leather jacket like mine, and black biker gloves, biker chains on his hips. All of the guys around our age had the same thing on. Trent wore black stright legs, a red shirt, a black leather jacket and black leather biker gloves. He looked adorible. Iggy's arm went around my waist and my hand went to rest on top of Trent's curly hair._

_"Bring it on," I smirked._

And then I'd woken. Okay, so it wasn't scary, but it was weird, you have to admit.

I realized I'd been underwater the entire time I'd been thinking. And I was breathing evenly, in and out, in and out. I shot above water, eyes wide. Iggy was up and looking around for me, looking a little panicked.

"Ig!" I called. His blue eyes shot to me and he relaxed, undressing and coming in the water with me, hugging me.

"Jesus, don't ever, _ever_ scare me like that again," he breathed into my hair.

"How long was I gone?"

"About ten minutes. What were you doing down there?"

"Thinking."

"But for ten minutes? How the hell did you stay under that long."

"I have no idea. I was just... breathing."

"Breathing? Underwater? Are you sure that you're not Trent's biological mother?"

"I'm sure," I said, running a hand through my hair. "Well, let's worry about that later." I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Kiss me, you fool." He smiled and brought his lips down to mine, his arms encircling my waist and bringing me up so that only from my knees down was in the water. It gained stream really quickly, my legs wrapping around his waist and my lips traveling down his neck. He moaned and fisted my hair in his hands. But then I could feel the minds of the Flock start to come out of sleep, and I pulled back with a sigh.

"What?"

"Not now." He looked rejected and put me down dejectedly. I forced him to look me in the eyes. "Beleive me, I want to, but our family's waking up and we don't have much time to get back to shore, get dressed, and get dried like nothing ever happened." He smiled.

"How long must you keep me waiting?" he asked as we walked back to shore.

"As long as their's distractions, I can't answer that." I looked at him nder my lashes. "You know that means Trent is a distraction."

"I know," he said. "It doesn't change anything. I'll wait as long as I need to." I smiled and kissed his cheek. We got to shore and got dressed, starting the fire back up enough for us to be warm. By the time we were dressed and dried, Trent was stirring between us." He sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Goodmorning, Sunshine," I said, smiling and picking him up.

"Morning ma-ma," he said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Morning da-da." He hugged Iggy and then sat back to let me put his clothes on him. "Itchy."

"Very, I know. We're going to get new, non-itchy clothes today. That sound good?" He nodded. I loved it when he nodded, because he would do it so vigorously, his red locks bouncing up and down.

"Good morning everyone," I heard Nudge yawn. "I'm ready for an exciting day of shopping.

"We have to wait for the rest of the Flock to wake up," I said, shaking sand out of Trent's hair and wings.

"'Kay." She sat down next to me, playing with Trent, tickling him. He laughed, pushing her hands away. But they would always return.

"Hey, the pink is gone," Nudge said, running a hand through my hair.

"Yeah, she used temporatary by mistake." I shrugged. Max and Fang woke up, and I couldn't help but laughed when they jumped apart after finding Max's head on Fang's chest. Angel woke up after them, yawning and petting Total. Gazzy wokeup last, stretching and yawning and ripping one.

"Good moring to you, too," I laughed, nose wrinkled. I leaned down to whisper, "And _that_ is your Uncle Gazzy," in Trent's ear.

"Unc Gaz," he said. I nodded.

"And you're Trent, right?" Trent nodded.

"I was never officially introduced," Max said, smiling.

"Neither was I," Angel said.

"You never introduced me to Total," I retorted.

"Point." I handed Trent to Max.

"You were cute before, but you're adorible without the scales," she said,c running a hand through his hair.

"He's so cute! Can I hold him?" Angel asked.

"Sure," I said. "But, Angel, he's only four years younger than you."

"So, he's two?"

"Yeah. That's how far back I'm getting memories from him, so I guess that's how old he is. His birthday is January 1, 2008."

"He's Baby New Year!" Gazzy joked. I laughed.

"Pretty much."Everyone got brushed off, Total burrying the burnt wood, and then we left, going into the city. We found the mall a while away and went in. I got an idea.

"What would you guys say to phones?" I asked.

"I would say heck yes!" Nudge exclaimed. I smiled and looked at Max for permition

"Sure. As long as the School doesn't know our numbers, we're all good, right?"

"Yeah." I looked around and found an AT&T store. We entered and were greeted by a very giddy looking teenaged boy.

"Hello, welcome to AT&T! I'd just like to say that your baby is _adorible_! Is he your brother?"

"Son," I said, blushing, but smiling at the same time.

"And the father?" he asked, ignoring the fact that I was so young.

"That would be me." Iggy smiled. "He's adopted." The guy smiled.

"Hottie. You lucky bastard," the guy whispered to me. I giggled and nodded.

"Definately." Iggy laughed.

"I'm Jared," the guy said. "And, yes, I'm gay."

"I kind of caught on to that," I said. "Don't flirt withmy babydaddy." I put my hands on my hips. He laughed and put his hands up.

"Okay, okay." He looked at Trent, who was fooling with the lace on my shirt. "And what's his name?"

"I Tent," he said, smiling a big, dimpled smile.

"Trent," I said to clarify it.

"How old is he?" Jared tickled Trent under the chin.

"Two. He'll be three in about two months."

"Is Trent short for anything?"

"Trenton." I smiled. "We come from a long line of odd names."

"Such as?"

"I'm Jab, short for Jabrielle. This is Iggy. Gazzy, Nudge, Max, Angel, and Fang."

"You're all related?"

"Adopted," we all said.

"Oh, okay. Even though you and Fang look alike, and so do Angel and Gazzy."

"Only ones who're related biologically."

"We're twins," me and Fang said.

"And we're brother and sister," the Gasman and Angel said.

"What about the dog?"

"That's Total, and he's mostly Angel's."

"So, where are your parents?"

"We don't know. We were taken away from them when we were little." We frowned.

"One thing yo have to learn about us is that when we say 'adopted,' we mean, 'okay, we're together, so we're family,'" I said. He nodded.

"How do you plan on buying a phone?"

"Well, I have my connections." I smirked and wiggled my credit card.

"Whoa. Do I want to know how you got that?"

"Probably not, but it's not stollen. See?" I showed him that it said "Jabrielle Windhite" on it. He relaxed.

"So I will not have the feds questioning me?"

"Never said that." He laughed, but when none of us laughed, he began to look scared. "I'm serious."

"Okay, then. Lets find you all phones." He rushed us through the store, showing us Blackberries, Androids, iPhones, GoPhones, Smartphones, Palm Phones, and much more. In the end, I settled with buying everyone iPhone 4s, so they could all have music, too. My treat.

"Thanks," I said to Jared. He smiled and waved us off.

"Bye! See ya Trent." He tickled him again. "And Iggy." He blew Iggy a kiss. I laughed at Iggy's face and Jared let out a frustrated breath. "Well... it was worth the try."

"See ya. You've got my number, if you ever need money, I'm your girl."

"I'll see to it that I call. Tootles."

"Oh, and if anyone comes in asking for our numbers, no matter how cute he may be, _don't_ give it to him."

"Is this related to the credit card?"

"Somewhat." He nodded.

"Okay. Spit swear. We both spit into our hands and shook hands.

"See ya." We walked out, exchanging phone numbers before setting off to find an ATM machine.

"How much? Like, $150 for you guys?" Max, Fang, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel nodded. Me, Iggy, and Trent would be together. "That's... $750." I got the money out with a little mind tampering, since you were only allowed to get out so much at a time. I split the money between between them.

"Call me for more money." We departed and the first place we went was a little skate shop called "Bordz." As we went in, I smiled at the graffit theme, skateboard designs lining the shelves and walls. I brushed my hand over a sterling silver skateboard that was so clean I could see my refection in it. And what I saw was not so pretty. I used it as a mirror, shaking sand and a few... starfish? When did they get there? I shook my head and pulled them out, sticking them in my coat pockets.

"Can I help you?" A guy asked. He was young, with baggy khaki pants, a baggy shirt, and a Yankees hat backwards on top of him blond head.

"We're just looking." I pulled yet another startfish out of my hair.

"That one's the most expensive board we have. It costs 2,000 dollars." _That's all for this beautiful board?_ I thought and wondered it I should get it. But I thought against it, knowing at some point I'd have to leave it behind.

"No thanks." I walked away from it, biting my lip sadly. I looked at the other boards, finding some for everyone. I got Angel a pink one with a red heart with white wings. I got Fang a black one with a red and white skull on it. I got Max one that said "Come to the dark side... We have cookies" and had steaming cookies under it. Iggy picked out one that had a hamburger's contents blown up on it for Gazzy. Then he picked out a black one with a lion on it for himself. I finnally picked out my own, a white board that said one single word in red cursive: Love.

"Why don't you buy my whole store?"

"I could, beleive me." I handed him my card. His grey eyes widened, but he swiped, I signed, and we were out. My phone buzzed as we headed to Baby GAP. It was a text from Max.

_Thanks fer the talk last nite._

I smiled.

_No prob. Ur lyke a sister to mi, and I new how u felt. I cudn't just let u suffer._

_Still, thanks._

_Ur welcome._

I put my phone away. I picked out clothes for Trent, and just them I got a notification on my phone. Sighing, I took it out again.

_You've been invited to the most exculive party in Rhode Island! No thanks needed._

_Can I ask who this is?_

_Jared, of course. Now r u in?_

_I gotta check wit Max. Wate a sec._

(To Max) _Can we go to a party with Jared? Pleeeeese?_

_When and where?_

(To Jared) _When and where?_

_Tonight at this really big mansion in Providence. Can't miss it._

(To Max) _Tonight at a huge mansion in Providence. You can't miss it._

_I guess. Just as long as we don't run into any Erasers all day, weshould be good._

_Thanks._

(To the rest of the Flock) _Everyone up for a party tonight?_

(Fang) _Sure, why not?_

_Buzz kill._

_I no_

(Angel) _Yes! We never get 2 go out!_

(Gazzy) _Sounds awesum_

(Nudge) _Yes, yes, a 1000x yes!_

_Ok. Jeeze, u'd think I juss proposed 2 u or sumthin._

_IKR._

(To Jared) _We're all good._

_Okay. Dress nice and have masks. It's masquerade._

_Okay. No prob._

_I no, wit ur bottomless beauty._

_Hey, how'd u no mi nickname fer it?_

_It's a big obvious._

_It surely is._

_Okay, c ya tonite._

_See ya_

"We're going to a party tonight," I said to Iggy as he picked up a pair of khaki pants.

"How?"

"Jared. He's getting us into a fancy-shmancy masquerade party tonight." I smiled. "What do you say? Have a little fun for once? Maybe we can rent a room for each of us and Trent could stay with Nudge..." I wiggled my eyebrows. He smiled.

"I'm really starting like Jared." I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Not like that." I smiled and kissed him quickly on the lips.

(To Flock) _Meet me at Vixen in ten._

(All) _Kay._

I paid for Trent's clothes, and then we went to Vixen, a store that sold all sorts of dresswear, from to prom dresses to super-sexy and mysterious masks. We sat outside of the store and waited for the Flock. When they were all here, bags in hand, we went in, distributing out skateboards and Slingz, which are just skateboard carrying straps.

"Thought it'd make getting away from Erasers easier. Just ride, ollie, flap, and catch. Easy take off."

"Awesome."

"Thanks, Jabby," Nudge said, hugging me. I hugged her back and then we went in, our boards stapped on our backs.

"Can I help you?" a woman asked from the check out desk.

"We're looking for outfits for the a masquerade ball leter tonight."

"Ah, the Greggory Ball." She nodded. "Guys! More Gregs!" Several men and women came out, the guys taking the guys and the girls taking the girls. The only guy with the girls was Trent.

"He's adorible. Is he your brother?" one blond girl asked. I shook my head no, smiling because I never got tired of seeing peoples' faces when I say:

"He's my son."

"Oh." She looked dumbstruck. "And how old are you?"

"14."

"And he is?"

"2, almost 3."

"WHOA. Who've you been doing?" I covered Trent and Nudge's ears while Max covered Angel's.

"There are little kids present and he's _adopted_."

"Oh. My bad." She smiled at Trent. "What's your name?"

"Tent."

"Trent," I corrected.

"Ma-ma." He patted my cheek and I smiled. "Where da-da?"

"He's getting his clothes, okay?" He nodded and stared tracing the letters on my Slingz.

"Which one?"

"The really tall blond."

"He's cute. You're lucky."

"Yeah. He really loves me for... me."

"Lucky. Every guy I've ever went out with has used me."

"_Every_ guy?"

"Well, exept one, but he died in a car crash." I smiled soothingly.

"I bet he still loves you, waiting up there for you. But don't go jumping of of bridges or anything. Keep looking for that special someone." She smiled.

"Now, what's your dress size?"

"I'm not sure. I lost a lot of weight, but I'm a size 00 in women's jeans."

"Wow. No offense, but are you anorexic?" I laughed.

"No. My family's just really skinny by nature." She looked at the others.

"Funny, only one of them looks like you."

"That's because he, the dark haired boy, is my only real sibling. The rest I'm not _really_ realted to. It's just a coinsidence that being slender runs in all of our blood."

"I wish I could get down to that size 00. The only way for me to do that is to start gagging and starving yourself."

"Don't do that. You're perfect how you are." I smiled at her. "A perfect size, what, 4? Me being as small as I am makes me look like an anorexic midget." She laughed.

"Thanks." She was pulling dresses off of racks, ranging in all sorts of colors. She then took me to the back where the other girls were. I suppose they had a separate room changing room for guys. Trent's green eyes were drooping.

"Trent, hun, stay awake. You can take a nap in a few minutes." He yawned and tried to keep his head up.

"Ma-ma, I tried," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"I know, baby. A few more minutes." I put him down and changed him into the black and red tux I'd picked out from out in the store, smiling. He looked so handsome in it. I looked at the shelves and shelves if masks and picked out a simple half-white, hanf-red mask. I smiled and kissedhis nose, getting him out of the clothes. As soon as I had him into new, fresh clothes, he sighed, eyes closing. I laid him down gently on his side, kissing his temple.

"Now to find you something." The first dress I turned down before I even put it on. It was pink and sequined in gold. It was a little too "hey, look at me!" The next one was a deep green halter with a beaded bodice. It was nice, but not my style. And it made my butt look a little too big. The next was a bloodred dress. (They were all pouffy dresses.) It had a black veil over the skirt, red and white beads spread through it. I shook my head no. The next was a deep purple. I turned it down. It didn't compliment me well. The last was the one, most definately. It was a black strapless dress, the skirt emroidered with white pearls. I grinned at my reflection. It made my petite form look sexy and, dare I say it, seductive. It came with a bustier, so my breasts were prominant in the outfit.

"This is the one," I said. "This is my dress."

"Okay, then, let's find you a mask, shall we?" I scanned the shelves, and there it was, hidden in the back, a mask worthy of a princess. _A mermaid princess, maybe?_ a little voice - not Cruella - said in the back of my mind. I shook it off and smiled, pointing to it.

"Let me see that one." I slid it over my eyes. It fit perfectly. It was perfect in and of itself.

"This is it."

This is going to be one fun Saturday night.

**Hey guy! Whoa, I am on a roll with updates today. But I have to come to a halt and let you guys decide. There are three links to three masks at the beginning of my bio. It's your job to help me decide which mask jab wears. I will not update until one of the masks gets 3 votes. The first with three wins and that is when I update. Muah!**

**Love,  
Ashley**


	12. AN Tally Up Week 1 Please Read!

**Hey Guys, it's been a half month and I'm about to explode. There has only been one vote so far, and I still waiting for more. So this is what I'll do. Every Sunday I'llpost up how many votes for each mask I have. This will go on until February 27, 2011, which the last Sunday of February. Here goes:**

_**Tally up as of 1/30/2011**_

_Mask 1 (blue and gold): 1_

_Mask 2 (silver and gold): 0_

_Mask 3 (black with a rose): 0_

**Links to the masks are on the top of my bio. Please vote because I really want to post the next chapters. Okay, see ya! Vote as either a review or PM.**

**Love, Always,  
Ashley**


	13. AN Tally Up Week 2 Please Read!

Here's this weeks Tally Up! (Date: 2/6/11 7:38 pm)

_Mask 1: 1_

_Mask 2: 0_

_Mask 3: 2_

Oh, and here's my psm (public service message):

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_**GREEN AND YELLOW, BITCH! XD**_

Love,  
Ashley ;)


	14. The Day I Had A Vision Of Justin Bieber

**The Day I Had A Vision of Justin Bieber**

"Guys! We'll be elsewhere if you need us! I've got Trent!" I called, followed by some 'kays and sures from the guys. We left out, me carrying a still sleeping Trent in one arm while carrying the dress in it's bag along with the mask.

"Where to?"

"I don't know about you guys, but I need some clothes." We set off in the direction of Wet Seal, stopping at a donut shop, Wockenfuss, and The Great Cookie on the way. Us birdkids gotta eat, ya know.

"Ah, Wet Seal. One the few places that carry my size," I sighed.

"Because you can't go to Wal-Mart and expect to find a size 00 in jeans," Nudge nodded, looking through some stuff.

"Ma-ma, tis one," Trent said, pointing to a black off-the-shoulder shirt with a white rose make of beads on it.

"This is... actually very nice. Let me find out my son had fashion sense. Well, you _are_ my son," I laughed.

"Did you jst say that _he_ was your son?" I guy asked me. He was abot 16 with artfully messy brown hair and brown eyes.

"Yes, I did. And to whose concern is it?" I asked. The guy glanced around, looking for the father, obviously, and then, coming up empty, smirked, putting his hands on either side of my head to trap me like that.

"So... what do you say me and you have a little fun, huh?"

"No thank you."

"Ah, come on, hun, don't be like that." He stroked my cheek, giving me an openning to get away. I ducked under his hand, only to have him pull me back by my waist.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" he purred in my ear. I growled.

"Let go of me," I warned.

"I don't think I will." His lips brushed over my neck. My fingertips prickled, me starting up my magic.

"I said let go!" I tried to wiggle from his grasp, but somebody works out. He continued kissing my neck from behind, but stopped a minute later, turning around.

"She said let go," I heard Fang say. I turned around in time to see Fang punch the guy. The guy got really mad and retaliated, swinging back at him. And it wasn't until now that one of the clerks noticed and came to intervene. I was already trying to tear the two testosterone-driven boys apart.

"Come on Fang!" I grunted, pulling at him shirt. God, he had to lay off the carbs for a while. How can a boy be as skinny as he is, but be so fucking heavy? "Fang!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Break it up!" the clerk ordered, getting over here. They reluctantly broke apart, Fang pushing me a little bit behind him. "What was going on ever here?"

"This guy-" I pointed to the guy "-was sexually harrassing me. My brother was just defending me." _I would have been good in the next couple seconds, you idiot,_ I thought toward Fang.

_Sure you would have_, he though back. I rolled my eyes.

"You," the woman said, looking at the guy. "Out." The guy huffed and stayed where he was. "Don't make me call mall security. Now, out!" The guy scoffed and walked out.

"I don't need this shit,"I heard him mumble. I rolled my eyes and picked up Trent, who I'd set a few feet away from the fight. He'd been watching silently.

"I don eed tis shit," he said, copying the guy. I covered his mouth.

"Don't say that word!" I exclaimed. "It's a bad word."

"Sowwy." He pouted and I smiled and kissed his head.

"That's okay." We continued shopping, splitting up again, and me, Trent, and Iggy were walking to Hot Topic.

"Are you okay?" he asked me suddenly.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked. I'd been looking through racks of Mickael Jackson clothes.

"Because of what happened back there," he said.

"Iggy, after most the same thing happening to me countless times over the last couple weeks, I've learned to brush off my shoulders and keep on moving." **(LOL that's a quote from The Bed Intruder Song.)**

"If you say so." We bought our clothes from there. We didn't buy much from each store, seeing as the more we bought, the more it'd slow us down flying. Plus the weight of the skateboards. We went to Aeropostale, Hollister, Rave, Payless, Footlocker, and a few other kid stores. I got Trent a cute little leather jacket because it reminded me of my dream.

"Do tell me, why a leather jacket?" Iggy asked as I slipped it around Trent's shoulders.

"He doesn't have a coat and you have to admit it looks adorible on him."

"Okay, it does." He smiled. Trent was walking now, holding both of our hands in the middle. I'd changed into a Michael Jackson t-shirt and some skinny jeans. Iggy changed into a blue plaid long sleeved buxton shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black sweater vest, and blue faded jeans.

"Looking shmexy," I said, smiling and looking him up and down.

"So are you."

"Ma-ma an da-da lookin shmexy," Trent said. I laughed and squatted down to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you." We started walking again, me looking around for the Flock or Erasers. But, of course, when you're looking for Erasers, they never show up and then right when your guard is down, they pop up out of nowhere. I spotted Angel and Nudge in Justice (Limited Too).

"Hey, guys," I said, walking in.

"Hey, Jab. What do you think of this?" Angel held a black and pink layered tutu dress up to her to show how it'd look.

"It's nice. Remember, not too much. It could weigh you down," I said. They nodded and I doubted they heard me. After they were done - and after putting countless idems of clothing back - we were out of the store and looking for everyone else. We saw Max in Payless, trying on calf-length converse.

"Hey, I just bought the same ones." I smiled and held up my payless bag. "But don't forget we need shoes for tonight.

"Done." Max held up a box that contained blue metalic gladiator heels.

"Awesome. Now we just need to fing Fang- Angel, where's Total?"

"In the bag," she said, and Total stuck his head out of her Limited Too bag.

"You better not be dropping a deuce in there," I said warningly.

"I would never." I stood still in shock for a second, and then remebered Gazzy's ability to throw his voice around.

"Gazzy, not funny," I said.

"What did I do?"

"Wait, that wasn't you?"

"What?"

"Then... who was it?"

"Me, genius," came the same voice. I looked at the source, which happened to be Total.

"You... can talk?"

"Of course he can," Angel said.

"And you knew?"

"Since I found him." She nodded.

"Well," Max breathed, "that would have been nice information to share." She paid for her shoes and we went to find Fang.

"Well, I told her to keep it shushed, so, yeah," Total said.

"Now you need to shush. You look like a dog, and dogs don't talk," I whispered to him. He shut his mouth with a huff.

"Whoof whoof," he said dejectedly. I rolled my eyes, which Trent mimicked. We found Fang in Hollister.

"Hey, bro," I said. He was looking at some skinny jeans.

"Hey." I shook my head at him.

"Is that all you wear, skinny jeans?"

"Maybe." I rolled my eyes and he checked out his clothes. He'd changed into black skinnies and a Michael Jackson shirt identical to my own, ironically.

"What're you wearing tonight?" I asked him.

"A black tux, a white shirt, and a black tie."

"What about the mask?"

"Just a simple black mask."

"What about you?" I asked Iggy.

"A black suit, light blue shirt, white tie, and half black half white mask. And you?"

"Like I'm going to tell you," I scoffed.

"Not fair." He shook his head.

"What're you wearing?" Fang asked Max. I shook my head.

"Not telling," she said.

"What about you?" Gazzy asked Nudge. "I'm wearing a navy blue suit, pale blue shirt, and white tie."

"I'm not telling," she said, zipping her lips.

"Dang it! She's a step ahead," Fang grumbled. He'd been trying to read it from Max's mind, but she was blocking him out.

"Nice," I complimented her, high fiving her.

"Well, I've got nothing to hide-" Angel started. _Don't tell them what you're wearing,_ both me and Max thought to her at the same time. She winked. "_But_ I'm still not telling."

"Why do girls have to make _everything_ a secret?" Fang mumbled.

"But when it comes to telling other girls their business, they're all over it," Iggy added.

"Shush," I said. We looked around, seeing if there was anything else.

"We need stuff to wash up with," I analyzed. "We want to look _and_ smell like we belong at this party if it's a bunch of high up rich people."

"Point," Max agreed. We set off toward Bed, Bath & Body. I bought citrus scented shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash. When we'd bought all of that, we went to a hair supply shop, getting us each a brush and comb and some hair suppies (flat iron, hair gel, etc.).

"Guys, pick out dye," I whispered to the girls. "As long as Max will let you...?" She nodded and smiled. We picked them out, the guys not noticing. Angel picked pink, Max red, nudge blonde, and me blue. He silently snuck them into our shopping bags after buying them and no one noticed.

"Hey, guys, what do you say to this? I get 4 rooms. One for me, Iggy, and Trent, Nudge and Gazzy, Fang and Max, and Angel and Total? And then we all get ready in two rooms, my, Iggy, and Trent's room for girls and Fang and Max's room for boys." I looked at Max. "So?"

"Agreed." I nodded. We bought duffel bags to put our clothes and stuff in and left. I searched the web on my phone for a good hotel.

"Here's one. A block away from the Greggory house, which I found, and across the street from a donut shop." I licked my lips.

"Donuts! I want some donuts!" Total exclaimed. I shushed him, looking around nervously.

"Total! Stop talking!" I whisper-yelled at him.

"Sorry, jeez, but you mensioned donuts." He shrugged, trotting along Angel's side.

"Excuse me? Children," I heard a woman call. We stopped.

"Yeah?" Max asked.

"Your dog needs a leash," she said.

"Yes ma'am," Angel said. The woman smiled at her and Trent, obviously having a soft spot for kids.

"Have a good day." She walked off and we sighed.

"Back to the mall?"

"Nope. There's a pet shop right there," Fang said, pointing across the street.

"Wow. Coincedence, much?" We went in, finding Total a very nice black leather rhinestone incrusted collar and leash. Trent was over babbling to the fish. Who knows. They could be his cousins.

"Come on baby," I said, reaching my hand out to him. He waved bye to the fish and trotted up to me. We left, Angel holding Total's collar. He huffed.

"Why do I have to wear this?" I shook my head.

"Just be a good dog and _don't talk_." He rolled his eyes. When we came to the hotel, the guy at the desk eyed us suspiciously, but checked us in anyways when I handed him my credit card, showing him my ID and getting the room keys. We went up to our separate rooms. Trent sat on the bed, playing with his mask. I sighed, plopping down on the bed and taking out the fudge from Wockenfuss.

"Want some?" I asked Iggy. He sat down next to me and nodded. I popped a piece of caramel fudge into his mouth.

"I wan some," Trent said. I gave him half of one. We started putting our clothes in our bags while eating chocolate and snickerdoodles.

"Alright, I just told Fang to tell Max to get the girls, so you need to get out and get to their room," I said, pushing him out.

"Okay, okay." He grabbed his stuff and set off toward Max and Fang's room. The girls were here in the next couple minutes.

"Got the dye?" I asked. They nodded, holding up the boxes.

"Let's get to work!" I turned my music on and we started getting ready, first doing Max's hair. We wet it, then shaking it out and putting the dye on the tips only. While we waited for hers to be done, which would take about 20 minutes, we did Nudge's, doing chunks of blonde that varied in size to look semi-natural. Angel's was next. She wanted the pink under her hair, so I pinned the top layer of her hair up and slathered the rest in dye. Max's phone beeped, signalling that her hair was ready. I washed it out in the sink, and when all of the white cream was gone, it revealed beautiful red tips. I clapped and sqealed at the same time that Nudge's timer went off. Her hair looked glorious, blond and brown mixing together like she'd been born with them.

"Gorgious, ladies," I said like a gay hair stylist. When Angel's phone went off, I washed the cream out, revealing bright pink. I unpinned the top of her hair, wetting it and putting the two colors together.

"Fabulous!" I exclaimed. They all smiled at their reflections, and then turned on me.

"Sit," Max said, pointing to the chair I'd sat in front of the sink. I did as told. They swarmed around my head, Trent watching from where he was sitting on the toilet. They got to work.

"Bright blue, right?" Nudge asked.

"Please." They took charge of my hair, putting some in my bangs and my mane, setting the timer and sitting by to wait. Max was acting more girlie than I'd ever seen her before.

"Max traded in her panties for thongs!" I laughed to her. Angel didn't hear. Max punched my arm and laughed.

"I just never really had anything to dress up and get all nice for. And now that I do... it feels good."

"I know right." I smiled and my timer went off. They washed the dye out of my hair and then stood me up. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I grinned. There were blue streaks everywhere, some light sky blue and some navy blue, so much so that they almost blended in with my hair.

"I don't know how you guys did this... but I don't care! It looks fabulous!" I hugged them, and Trent joined in. I laughed and picked him up.

"Do you like mommy's hair?" He nodded vigorously.

"Ma-ma look shmexy." I laughed and looked around, finding I still had some dye left. I sat him down and looked at the girls.

"What would you guys say to a few streaks on his hair?" I asked them.

"I'd say awesome!" Nudge said.

"Okay." I turned back to Trent, putting the dye in thin portians of his hair and staying clear of his roots. "Don't touch." He sat there for ten minutes, and when I washed it out, there were dark blue highlights in his hair. "Adorible." I ran my hands through his hair and kissed his cheek.

"Who's getting in the shower first?" Max asked.

"Me!" Nudge said. We all went out, eating the food they'd brought over, plus the cookies and chocolate I still had left over.

"Max, please tell me you and Fang are going to get together soon?" Angel asked through a mouthful of food. Max froze.

"She reads minds, remember?" She shook her head.

"It's complicated."

"What could possibly be complicated about it? I've only known Iggy for a coupled weeks and I'm dead set in love with him. You and Fang have known each other for most of your lives!"

"Point, but things are still complicated." I shook my head and Nudge came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"Next!" she said, sitting down on the bed, drying her hair. Max went in.

"What'd I miss?"

"A Max-and-Fang talk. Not much."

"What'd she say?"

"She said, and I quote, 'It's complicated.'" I shook my head.

"Denial. It's worse than I thought." She shook her head and Trent mimicked it. Nudge was still drying her hair out when Max came out. Angel went in, and that left me, Max, and Nudge to sit there without much to talk about. Suddenly, I got pulled into a vision. I was standing in a big house, with a bunch of people around. I looked around, finding Max and Fang out on the taurus. I smiled, keeping my distance even though I knew they couldn't hear me. I didn't want to hear them. Fang said anything and looked at her, and Max looked back at him, smiling and saying something. Their eyes met and they edged in, and I was so into it that I didn't notice the yelling. It was coming from Iggy and... my God, you won't believe me, but Justin Bieber. They were arguing over something. I was trying to push them apart. Justin was like over a half foot shorter than Iggy, even with Iggy being two years younger. I was 8" shorter than Justin and 1'4" shorter than Iggy, making me practically a shrimp next to them. Before I could get close enough to tell what they were saying, the vision ended.

"Jab!" Nudge, Angel, and Max were shaking me and calling my name. I blinked a few times, and I was back in the hotel room.

"Vision," I muttered, shaking my head and smiling at the beginning. Angel saw it in my head and smiled, too, whispering it in Nudge's ear.

"Bad or good?"

"Good. Very good," I said. "But you don't need to know."

"You really don't," Nudge and Angel said.

"What are you three hiding?" She narrowed her eyes. We zipped our lips. I jogged into the bathroom with Trent before she could stop me. I ran his bath, stipping him down while it filled up. When I put him in, he started splashing. I ran soap through his hair, dipping his underwater to rinse it out. I didn't worry about him drowning or anything because he could breathe underwater. When I'd washed him up and everything, I took him out, pulling the plug and drying him off. His hair was still realling damp and dark. I kissed his head and sent him out of the bathroom with a towel wraped around him. As I got into the shower myself and ran the conditioner through my hair, I thought about the vision. What could possibly be going on between me, Justin Bieber, and Iggy?

_I think JB fell for you_, Angel thought. _Just a suggestion._

_No way. There are probably a million other prettier, _taller_ girls there._

_You don't know that. _I felt a smiled from her and rolled my eyes. I got out and dried off as I opened the door. We all sat down on the bed and the fun began. I turned on Freakum Dress and we started dancing and belting out the lyrics while we put out dresses on. Angel wore an all white halter dress that had an inticately beaded bodice. Max wore a dark red strapless dress with embroidery on the neckline and then around her waist and it puffed out at her low waist. Nudge wore a long purple spaghetti strap dress that had black floral embroidery on the bodice. "Whip My Hair" came on and we started getting our hair ready. I curled Nudge's hair into loose bouncy curls and then pinned half up. It looked beautiful on her. Max was next. Since we didn't have mch to work with, we'd bought some hair clips and pins. We straightened her hair and then put a few little crystal red rose clips to hold it out of her face.

"Awesome," I nodded, putting in the last clip. Angel came to sit down. I flat ironed her hair and stood back to see what I could do to it. Then I noticed scissors in a half opened drawer and grinned, grabbing them and snipping them to show the others. Then I went back down to Angel's head and parted a thin front portian of her hair before snipping most of it off, with the exception of about 2 or 3 inches that fell to her eyebrows.

"There. She's now a rockstar," I said, nodding at my work. Angel looked at herself and smiled.

"I love it," she said. And, just like when we were dying our hair, they turned on me and acted like I was in prison or something. I sat and they started their work, Nudge working on flat ironing my bangs to the side and Max working on curling my hair in the back. Angel was looking at me, probably trying to figure out what they should do. Then they started pinning and pulling and all.

"Jeeze, what are you doing?" I asked. They kept quiet and focused on their work. When they were done, I looked at myself, half expecting a giraffe on my hair. I don't know how they would have done it, but they could have. But what I saw was black and blue curls pinned randomly but elegantly to my head and then my bangs falling like feathers - tehe - into my face.

"You guys are miracle workers," I smiled, hugging them.

"No problem and you have quite the hands yourself," Max said. I flipped my hair and laughed.

"Well, I don't like to brag..." We laughed and moved on to makeup as "Video Phone," "Never Say Never," "Pretty Girl Rock," and "Walking on Sunshine" came on. We belted out the lyrics, laughing at Trent when he danced. I had on red lipstick and red and black smokey eyeshadow, with mascara and lipliner. Max put on bloodred lipstick, and red eyeshadow, complete with mascara, eyeliner, and lipliner. Angel had on pink lipgloss, pink eyeshadow, and mascara. Nudge had on dark red lipstick, lipliner, smokey purple eyeshadow, and, of course, eyeliner and mascara. My mask was black with a red rose in it (Mask 3). Max's was red with black feathers and gold glittery designs. Angel's was simple, all white and covered entirely in feathers. Nudge's was purple, but you could hardly tell because heavy black lace was over it. A purlpe ribbon tied it to her head. As we each put on our masks, I smiled at them. They looked mysterious and beautiful. I just hoped Angel would stay away from the fruit punch. I texted Iggy:

_Ready?_

_Yeah._

We went out into the hall to find the guys waiting. I smiled when Iggy's eyes widened.

"Iggy like?"

"Iggy like," he nodded. I smiled.

"Wait, dilemma. No ride," Max said.

"Or do we?" I jogged ahead and stood outside, haulting a cab. It was the mini van kind. I acted as a chauffer, waving the Flock in. It was still a tight squeeze, because, really, fitting 4 teenagers, 4 kids, and a small dog into one 5 seat van isn't easy. Fang, Max, Nudge and Gazzy were squished into the back row of seats, Angel and Trent were both in one of the single seats and I was on Iggy's lap in the other one. If this had been just a soccer mom giving us a lift, someone could have sat in the front passenger seat. But this was a taxi, and only the driver sat in the front. Not that I was complaining that I had to sit in Iggy's lap.

"To the Greggory House," I said to the driver, giving him my credit card. They took credit cards now, thank god, and he swiped it.

"Everyone strapped in?"

"Yeah," we said. He started driving. Iggy wrapped his arms around my waist.

"You look beautiful."

"As do you."

"Guys are handsome, not beautiful."

"Okay, you look handsome." I kissed his head.

"Nice hair," he said, picking up a baby blue and black lock. "Looks like you got everyone into it."

"Yeah."

"Am I the only one that thinks Angel looks like Avril Lavigne?"

"No, I do, too." I nodded and gave Iggy my credit card and iPod to put in his pocket. My phone was strapped to my shoe in a case. The case was sparkly and blue with a heart and my first initial on it. I thought about the vision, and how we were nearing it by the second, but, hey, at least I was going to meet Justin Bieber.

**Hey, guys. You're awesome, really. And I meant no offense to the actual Missuri girls of the world. I had no idea what girls in Missuri girls acted like cuz I've only been to Maryland (my homeland), Maine, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. I wasn't trying to say any girls in Missuri girls actually acted like that. As for the guys... that has nothing to do with the location. I have to say that you can go to any state and find guys that act like absolute pigs. So, like, yeah. Just my apology to Missuri-ites. No offense was pointed to you. Well, Review! Loves and Kisses!**

**Love,  
Ashley**


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